How to clean a greasy cooker hood filter When was the last time you took a peek underneath your cooker hood and checked out the filters? Maybe it’s been a while or maybe you’ve never done it? It’s not going to be pretty, as the job of a cooker hood filter is to collect grease, so if it’s doing its job correctly, it’s going to look and feel very, very greasy.
Over time, the filters may become so blocked with grease and yuk, that it loses its effectiveness and becomes the source of unpleasant odours, which is why it’s important to clean or replace these filters often as part of your cleaning routine.
Thankfully, cleaning or replacing them isn’t hard at all!
Depending on your cooker hood ‘s age, make and model the type of filters it uses will vary.
Firstly, let’s talk about fabric cooker hood filter options that can be “cut to fit”. This type of filter needs to be replaced as it cannot be cleaned once saturated in cooking grease. There are several types of “cut to fit” filter:
Grease indicator “colour change” filters are thin paper like filters that have a printed pattern on them, this uses a dye that reacts with cooking grease to change colour (normally grey print to red) and spreads through the filter fabric as it becomes saturated with grease, so when you see the filter has turned red it needs to be changed-simples!
Lofted grease filters are 10-15mm thick, fluffy filters which can trap more grease than “colour change” filters because of their structure, but you have to decide when you think they need changing as there is no indicator, but cooking grease on filters will turn them yellow/brown, so change them before they get too “brown”-know what I mean?!
More recent cooker hoods, especially these designer spaceships you are putting above your hobs these days use clip-in, multi layer, aluminium mesh filters in plastic/metal frames.
Let’s tell you how to clean this type of cooker hood filter in your sink with just boiling water, baking soda, and a good degreasing dish soap. Some cooker hood filters can actually be washed in the dishwasher, but depending on how long it’s been since you’ve cleaned yours,
We wouldn’t recommend that, without at least cleaning them this way first. (You don’t want too much grease to end up in your dishwasher!
So, let’s de-grease those cooker hood filters!
1.Remove the filters from the cooker hood: Most filters should easily slide or pop out of the underside of the hood. Ours has a metal loop, just grab to push the filter up and slide it out.
2. Fill a sink or bucket with boiling water: The hotter the water, the more effective. Depending on how hot you can get the water from your tap, that should be good enough, if not, just boil up a kettle & use that but BE CAREFUL!
3.Pour in baking soda and dish soap: Pour a good squirt of degreasing dish soap and 1/4 cup baking soda into the hot water. Swish around with a brush (not your hand because it’s too hot!) until the water is nice and soapy.
4.Put the greasy cooker hood filters in the water, make sure they’re completely covered.
5.Allow the cooker hood filters to soak for around 10 minutes.
6.Scrub the filters after soaking, take a non-abrasive scrub brush and scrub the filters. Add more dish soap to your brush if required while you scrub.
7.Rinse the cooker hood filters thoroughly in clean hot water and dry with a paper towel or clean cloth.
8.Put the filters back into the hood, and repeat as needed! Cleaning the filters once a month is a good maintenance strategy, particularly if they go in the dishwasher, as little and often is definitely the best way to maintain grease filters Done too infrequently it can be very difficult to remove all the grease deposits.
NB: Activated carbon “anti odour” filters are recommended if your cooker hood re-circulates the air back into your kitchen. They can come as “cut to fit” or for some models, special bespoke plastic cartridges with granular carbon inside. In either case they are used in conjunction with grease filters to help remove the cooking/grease smells and odours.
If, when you clean your cooker hood filter you discover it's seen better days, don’t forget you can order a new one from us at FiltaMagic - we stock cooker hood filters for many, many brands, see our range here. They start at just £4.99
With next day delivery available & all our products backed up by our price promise you couldn’t be in better hands for your cooker hood filter requirements.
As always, If you are not sure of which cooker hood filter you need, then just reach out to our friendly customer service team on 0800 542 5852 or drop us a message via our Instagram page here or Facebook here - we can help with any queries you may have.
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