Today's post is going to AMAZE you....and at the same time probably GROSS YOU OUT a little. You've been forewarned.
I didn't start out my day with the intention of grappling with this particularly onerous task...but as is often the case with me, one thing led to another and there I was, off on one of my cleaning tangents. Of course the RESULTS made it all worthwhile...but not before I asked myself (several times)....how did I get myself into this???
Well, it all started with a burnt out light bulb. I was making a grilled cheese sandwich for my youngest on the stove when POOF!...the light above the stove went out. Since I have this thing about needing to SEE what it is I'm cooking...I had to put the cheese sandwich on hold while I went in search of a new bulb.As I was changing the bulb I unfortunately noticed the condition of the UNDERSIDE of the hood above my stove. OY!!! Kinda wish I hadn't done that. You see normally all I see is THIS SIDE of the stove hood, which I manage to keep pretty clean. Looks nice doesn't it? Well don't let that fool you...underneath lurks a beast!
A beast in the form of the OVEN VENT FILTER! I must have looked at that thing a hundred times and not even thought twice about how dirty it must be....until today that is. This blogging stuff is getting to me! And of course once something gets in my head...as the hubster will attest...you might as well forget it. It's all over. There's no use in even TRYING to get it out. It's there to stay until *I* decide it goes.
So slight change of plans for the afternoon. I finished the grilled cheese sandwich and went to consult with my friend Google. It didn't take long for me to find an incredibly helpful and informative website called The Manly Housekeeper where the (manly) Mark did a post about this very subject just 12 short days ago! How weird is that?
I immediately decided the idea had merit...so I was off and running with it. Little did I know what I was getting myself in to.
Mark's "How-To" on cleaning greasy oven vent filters is simple. Haul out your biggest pot, fill it with water and bring it to a boil. Then add 1/2 cup of BAKING SODA....VERY SLOWLY! Literally, you have to add it about a tablespoon at a time because it IMMEDIATELY fizzes up quite alarmingly! (The fizz goes right away.) Then take your caked-with-grease filter and submerge it in the pot. (Well, 1/2 of it anyway.)
For the first few minutes I watched in fascination as the boiling water went to work on the grease. You could see it just melting off. But my fascination soon turned to disgust (bordering on horror!) as I continue to watch my filter "cook" in the water. I think the pictures tell the story....
 |
| Don't worry, this came clean easily with some Dawn dishwashing liquid. |
Oh. My. Goodness. I couldn't believe how much grease just kept bubbling up to the surface! I finally decided that I should empty this pot o' sludge...and give the vent another treatment with a clean pot of water and more baking soda. So I took out the vent, and dumped the grease slick out in the backyard (I wasn't ABOUT to dump it down my sink!). When I got back in I decided to try rinsing the vent with really hot water out of the tap before boiling it again, but it turned out that's all it took to get the rest of the grease out. I kept rinsing until the water ran clear....and that was that.
Here are some before and after pics:
After letting the vent dry for the rest of the day propped up on top of the stove...I returned it to it's "home" tonight and had to admit it was a pretty great feeling knowing it was now a GREASE-FREE zone. All-in-all it really was a simple fix...one that could have been a lot worse had it involved hand-to-hand combat with the grease. Come to think of it...the only time my hands touched grease was taking the filter out in the first place. Thanks Manly Mark! I owe you one! :-)
An impromptu cleaning with impressive (yet disgusting!) results is today's.....
I have 2 of these in my vent hood (actually a microwave), so I get double the pleasure! Thank you so much for this tip! I have soaked them in Dawn power scrubber, I have sprayed heavy duty de-greaser on them, I have thrown them away and ordered new ones (only to have them back in the same condition in no time). NEVER thought of boiling them!?! Can't wait to see if I can finally get those things clean! Thanks so much!!
ReplyDeleteoh yuck, and thanks so much ! Mine is really nasty and I need to clean it. Thanks for this, you've been pinned to my pinterest! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for another great tip. I have been enjoying your site for a few weeks now, ever since my daughter sent me a link. I had to thank you today because I just added "clean the hood filter" to my to-do list yesterday. I'm not dreading as much now!
ReplyDeleteYou're doing a great job! Thank you!!!
Terri
Thank you!! I have tried to clean the filter several times & just never got it really clean, I think that has changed now, lol :-)
ReplyDeleteGreat tip!
ReplyDeleteJust wanted you to know that lately when I come to your blog, I get a warning from Trend (virus/spyware protection) that says you are a dangerous site. You don't look dangerous to me -- except you might be dangerous on grease and grime!
Jody
Jody...thank you for letting me know. My site is hosted by Blogger.com, which is owned by Google so I doubt there is a problem...but I will look into it and see if there is some weird code problem going on. thanks for the heads up!
ReplyDeleteThis is excellent information for a grimy filter. Once it's clean I think running it in the dishwasher at least once a month would keep it clean. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteStoblogger....absolutely! That is what I'm going to try to remember to do from now on. :-)
ReplyDeleteI just found your blog last week! It's awesome thanks so much! :-) I always just throw my filter through my dishwasher about once a month. (Do this to the filter from the bathroom as well.) It works great!!
ReplyDeleteI, too, am a new follower. I can't believe I'm saying this but I can't wait to try this. I did the dryer maintenance you posted & am amazed that my dryer is running so much more efficiently now. I've told all my friends, lol.
ReplyDeleteI need to do this. It's going to take some mental preparation, though (i.e. dreading, procrastinating)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad the filter tip worked for you! Isn't it gross to see all the grease collect on the edge of the pot? I've tried a bunch of different cleaning methods (spraying with degreaser, washing with ammonia and Dawn dish soap, washing in the dishwasher) and boiling with baking soda is by far the best.
ReplyDeletewe cleaned ours with a bucket of water with borax in it - no boiling, though we did let it sit overnight (and only half the filter fit at a time, so you have to do it twice, as here).
ReplyDeleteAre there some types of filters that have to be replaced? ( Charcoal ones). Is there a good way to tell the difference? no instruction manual with my hood.
ReplyDeleteThanks
Powdered dishwasher soap works wonders on any burnt pans, gummed up filters, and oven racks. Fill up pan with hot water and let dishwasher soap disolve on burnt area. Or fill up sink with boiling hot water, put gummed up filter in and sprinkle dishwasher soap on filter. Oven racks can go in the bathtub with an old towel underneath racks, add hot water, and sprinkle on dishwasher soap.
ReplyDeleteLet the dishwasher soap sit a few hours. And don't forget to use gloves. This is the best method our family has used for years. Powdered detergent works the best.
ReplyDeleteI have a suggestion to make this even easier: use your metal broiler pan so you can lay the whole thing flat. Or a metal roaster will work too if it's big enough and stove top safe. Most are. Great idea though. I have run mine through the dishwasher and while they get cleaner, they aren't CLEAN. Which is what I want.
ReplyDeleteI love DIY solutions (I make my own laundry detergent, use peroxide and baking powder to clean everything), but I think this is the one thing I'll just spend the $3 to replace! :)
ReplyDelete...Unless I'm wrong and it doesn't stink like I imagine?
ReplyDeleteHOLY COW!!! I am amazed at the way this worked! However, I did not have a large enough pot, so it boiled over... and over! It was a really fun science experiment though! The filter is clean, but when I went to take it out... GROSS, the whole underside of my range hood was... black! It’s supposed to be white! (I'm 5'10" so I don't see the underside very often!) Well, obviously this was meant to be a stove cleaning day! I used your baking soda and hydrogen peroxide paste, applied it with a green scrubby sponge, and then wiped the grime off like warm butter. I have never been able to get my range hood clean! Yahoo!! Thanks so much for the great tips!
ReplyDeleteTina
I've been looking at all sorts of stuff on your blog and I'm blown away! I don't follow very many people, but I'm following you every which way possible! I've been dabbling in a few homemade things and I gotta say I'm excited about doing the homemade shout and the homemade lysol wipes (Those things are so spendy but amazing!) Anyway, thanks for all the tips!
ReplyDeleteAlyssa
http://cupcakeapothecary.blogspot.com
Thank you so much! I am going to try this! I did use your dishwasher cleaning, vinegar then bleach, my dishes are much less spotted! Thank you! My dryer is next!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I just pinned it! Great tip!
ReplyDeleteTasha...believe it or not...it really didn't smell...it just LOOKED really gross! But then again...I don't have the hyper-sensitive nose that my kids have. :-)
ReplyDeleteblkenigma888....I will take that as a big compliment. :-) So glad you like the blog!
KK...I was surprised by that too. At first I worried I had ruined it...but it came off super easy.
I was able to run it through the dishwasher, and it worked! Whew! I'm tall, so I shudder in horror at what my shorter friends think when they see that stuff! ;-)
ReplyDeleteWhat and awesome solution to a disgusting job! Thanks.
ReplyDeleteWhen I used to have a dishwasher, I would put it in there and it always came out sparkling clean and like new. No fuss either. I was worried about the grime getting into the dishwasher but the dishwasher was just as clean as before. :)
ReplyDeleteHi -- looks to me like the ones you have there in the photo are the charcoal filters, and those are just meant to be replaced once in a while (although if you can get a little more use out of them, then that's great!) In fact, I just had to do something similar last week, and called an appliance shop, and told them I needed replacement filters; the guy told me that if the hood vents to the outside, you only have to have the stainless steel filters, but if the thing vents back into the house, you also should have an extra filter with charcoal in it, above the regular stainless filter.
ReplyDeleteSo the way to tell them apart is that the charcoal filters have sort of a visible inner layer (which is what yours look like to me, based on the photos) whereas the stainless filter is just entirely made of metal mesh, and can be washed easily in the dishwasher (or using your method, if extra grimy, but the dishwasher works well for monthly touch-ups.)
Thanks for the info, though! I will try this method next time.
Oh, and for additional oven and range cleaning tips, please check this out:
http://offthecuffcooking.blogspot.com/2011/08/chemical-free-rangeoven-cleaning.html
Jill, my husband and I literally were just talking about how in the world were we going to clean the filter on saturday night. Here it is monday morning and I now know what I will be doing later today. ha. Awesome!
ReplyDeleteAwesome post!
ReplyDeleteGood to know.....I was soaking in the sink, then scrubbing......then a friend told me: stick it in the dishwasher! But have yet to try that. Not sure if the dishwasher would rip it apart, but someone stated 'all good'
YOUR method is cool however
This is great! What do you use to keep the top part sparkly clean? I can never do it as white and shiny as yours.
ReplyDeletehi! i'm a very new housewife but I was wondering...couldnt you just buy a new vent?
ReplyDeleteThis is FANTASTIC!!! SO easy and inexpensive! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
ReplyDeleteI have to say a HUGE thank you to your post here. We moved into a new (to us) home where the previous owners cooked a LOT with grease! I am not kidding... there was residue on the ceiling and cabinets and of course these vents were so bad they were no longer "venting". I tried chemicals and lots of elbow grease, I have gotten them cleaner but never like new like this... until now!!! THANKS!
ReplyDeleteJust tried this and all I can say is "EEEWWWWW!!!!" Unfortunately my pot wasn't big enough to fit the vent in, so I had to "dip" one corner at a time into the mixture. After about 1 minute, that corner was like new! Now I need to get out my HUGE pot that's buried in the garage and do this again to get the whole thing! Thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteJust tried this-but with the icky burner surrounds and well covers to my electric stove. Once grease bakes on there I HATE scrubbing the gunk off. It is coming right off doing this. So next is the filter-so easy, thanks!
ReplyDeleteWorked great! Amazing. Thank you for the tips. I, too, had tried soaking them in other stuff, but boiling with the baking soda got them clean.
ReplyDelete