The saying ‘you don’t know what you don’t know’ applies so fittingly to people’s relationships with their range hood filters. In 2010, the New York Times ran a story in which Robert Schwartz, an interior designer had this to say about vents: “I’ve gone into kitchens 20 years old, and people have never cleaned their filters.” It’s time to give these ventilation superstars the limelight they deserve, here is your 10-step deep cleaning strategy.
- Filters trap oils, cooking fumes and many pollutants, so in order for them to work properly you need to wash them – regularly.
- If you haven’t washed your filter(s) in more than a year, fill your sink with 12 cups of boiling hot water. Simply boil a full standard kettle twice. Add 1 cup of white vinegar and a few drops of dishwashing soap.
- Soak the filters in this bubble bath for an hour, then drain the water.
- Next, put a few drops of dishwashing soap on an old toothbrush and meticulously scrub both sides of the filter.
- Repeat steps #2 and #3 all over again.
- Now, put a few drops of dishwashing soap on a wet microfibre cloth and give the filters a sudsy car wash treatment.
- Once you’ve washed away all the grime, and rinsed away all soap residue, load them in the dishwasher.
- Run them through the dishwasher on the highest temperature setting and if you’ve got it, use the sanitizing option too.
- Remove the filters from the dishwasher and pat them down to remove excess water, then re-install.
- Moving forward, set an alarm on your phone to wash your filters in this deep cleaning bubble bath or the dishwasher once a month.
