How to Clean Rangehood Filters

Sitting directly above your cooker, the rangehood plays an important role in collecting smells, smoke, grease and other particles and whisking them away from the kitchen. However, learning how to clean rangehood filters is a skill that many people tell us they’ve not yet acquired. While we don’t often receive calls for rangehood filter cleaning, we do know everything there is to know about cleaning them, so we’re here to tell you everything you need to learn.

What are Kitchen Rangehood Filters?

Part of the kitchen rangehood is the filter. Air is pulled out of your kitchen, through the filter, and then exhausted from your home or commercial kitchen. The filter collects the grease and debris that would otherwise end up sticking to your air ducts, making the system inefficient as dust and dirt build-up.

A rangehood filter is designed to get grubby, and the kitchen owner needs to ensure that it is regularly cleaned. We’ll tell you how to clean a range hood filter, but first, let’s look at the different filter types.

Types of Rangehood Filters

There are 3 types of rangehood filters on cooker hoods:

Fabric Grease Filter

Fabric filters are designed to filter grease and oil into a sponge-like product. They cannot be cleaned and are designed to be thrown away and replaced to maintain optimum performance.

Charcoal Filter

Charcoal filters are typically used on rangehoods that do not extract the air from your home, but instead recirculate the air in the room, filtering it as it goes. Like fabric filters, they are designed to be replaced every few months, depending on how much cooking you do.

Metallic Grease Filter

Metallic grease filters are the type of filter we’re talking about in this article that can be cleaned. They should be removed from the hood and cleaned regularly. When you look inside your hood, you’ll see a baffle or mesh filter, which usually comes out with a single button press.

How Often Should Range Hood Filters Be Cleaned?

The most important element of knowing how to clean a greasy range hood filter is learning how frequently you should clean it. Some people leave it for years, but their filter is probably doing nothing for their home hygiene at this point. Instead, you should remove and clean range hood filters every 3-4 months.

It’s also worth noting that even your aluminium or steel mesh filter will inevitably reach a point where it cannot be effectively cleaned. You should be considering replacing the filter after around 8 washes (so that’s every 2-3 years).

How to Clean a Greasy Range Hood Filter

You can clean a range hood filter with boiling water, baking soda, and degreasing dish soap. Here are some options for how to clean a range hood filter:

Baking Soda and Dish Soap

1. Remove the filter from your rangehood. Most will easily slide out or pop out from the underside of the hood. There may be a spring-loaded button to push to release the filter.
2. Fill your sink with boiling water. Try using water directly from your kettle rather than your hot tap—it’s hotter, and the hotter the water, the more effective the grease removal will be.
3. Pour in a quarter cup of baking soda and a generous amount of dish soap. With a long-handled brush (remember, the water is boiling hot) swirl the water around to mix the soap and soda.
4. Pop your grease rangehood filters into the water, ensuring they are completely covered.
5. Give them 10 minutes to soak.
6. Grab a non-abrasive scrubbing brush and scrub the filters after the water has cooled enough.
7. Rinse and dry.
8. Put the filter back into the hood and repeat again in a few months.

Degreaser

You can use a degreaser instead of baking soda and dish soap. The process is essentially the same, so you already know how to clean the filter on a range hood in this way. However, you don’t need the water to be near boiling, so water from the hot tap will suffice.

Vinegar and Baking Soda

Another popular cleaning method that can be used throughout the home is vinegar and baking soda. Here’s how to clean rangehood filters with this clever mixture:

1. Put a large pan on a hob and put your filter in the pan with enough water to submerge the filter.
2. Bring to the boil.
3. Add 3 tablespoons of vinegar to the water, followed by a 1/4 cup of baking soda. This will begin to fizz.
4. Leave the filter in the boiling water for 10 minutes.
5. Remove the filter using tongs, rinse it under the tap on both sides and then scrub it with a soft brush.

Hot Soapy Water and Ammonia

This method is for people who regularly maintain and clean their range hood filters, as it is simple to do, but not ideal for thick greasy build-up.

1. Fill your sink with warm water and add dishwasher soap.
2. Add ammonia and stir the water.
3. Add the filter and clean it with a soft scrubbing brush.
4. Rinse off the ammonia and grime.

The Dishwasher

Finally, you can also consider putting your metal rangehood filter in the dishwasher, but you should clean it using the method listed below first. You don’t want to load your dishwasher with too much grease. We recommend checking the rangehood filter manufacturer instructions before proceeding.

Cleanco Commercial Cleaning – Brisbane’s Premier Cleaning Company

Whichever method you choose to use, knowing how to clean a rangehood filter is essential to maintaining the hygiene of your kitchen. As we said at the start of the article, rangehood cleaning is not something we do often at CleanCo, but we pride ourselves on knowing how to clean every element of your home – so even for intricate services, we’re happy to offer advice.

Our services are targeted at office, hospital, and warehouse cleaning services. Our cleaning services page provides a full list of the types of commercial sites we cover.

For commercial cleaning, contact us today, and we’ll happily provide you with a custom quote for ridding your site of stubborn grime and leaving it sparkling.