My Saturday Afternoon Battle: The Range Hood Filters
Okay, so I finally got around to doing that job I’d been putting off for ages – the dreaded “lavar” of the kitchen extractor hood filters. Let me tell you, it was a process.
First thing, I had to get those things out. Slid them out from under the hood, and wow. Just coated in sticky, yellowy grease. Honestly, disgusting. I knew right away this wasn’t going to be a quick wipe-down.
Getting Prepped for War
So, I gathered my weapons. Here’s what I needed:
- A big plastic tub, deep enough to submerge the filters. Found one out in the shed.
- Really strong dish soap. None of that fancy gentle stuff.
- Baking soda. Grabbed a whole box just in case.
- An old, stiff scrubbing brush.
- Rubber gloves. Definitely needed those.
- Old clothes, because grease splashes are inevitable.
Got the tub into the kitchen sink. Turned the hot water on full blast, as hot as it would go. Filled that tub up. Then, I squeezed in a ton of dish soap. Like, probably a quarter of the bottle. After that, I dumped in maybe half the box of baking soda. Gave it a quick stir with the brush handle.
The Soak and The Wait
Carefully, I lowered those greasy metal rectangles into the steaming, soapy water. Made sure they were completely covered. The water instantly started looking murky. Good sign? Maybe. Now, the waiting game. Some guides say 15-20 minutes. No way. For this level of grime, I knew it needed longer. I left them soaking for a solid hour, maybe even a bit more. Went off, made myself a cup of tea, tried to forget about the greasy mess brewing in the sink.
Scrub-a-Dub-Dub (Mostly Scrub)
Alright, time to face the music. Put on the gloves. Pulled out the first filter. The water was just plain gross by now – dark brown, oily film on top. The filter itself still looked pretty bad, but the grease seemed… softer? Maybe? Grabbed the brush and started scrubbing. Back and forth, applying decent pressure. It took some serious elbow grease. Some spots were really stubborn, especially in the corners and the mesh bits. For those, I sprinkled a bit more baking soda directly onto the filter and scrubbed again. It acted like a mild abrasive. Slowly, slowly, the grease started coming off.
Then came the rinse. Held it under hot running water. A lot of the loosened gunk washed away, which was satisfying. But yeah, still needed more scrubbing on certain areas. So, scrub, rinse, inspect, repeat. Did the same whole process for the second filter. My arms were definitely feeling it by the time I finished the second one.
The Aftermath and Drying
After a final thorough rinse under hot water for both, I held them up. Not perfect, maybe, but worlds better. They looked like metal again, not like some fuzzy, greasy trap. I stood them upright in the dish drainer rack to air dry completely. This took a while, pretty much the rest of the afternoon. You want them totally dry before putting them back.
Later on, once they were bone dry, I slid them back into the extractor hood. Click, click. Done. Felt pretty good, actually. It was a messy, time-consuming job, that’s for sure. But seeing them clean? Worth it. Beats shelling out for new filters anyway. So yeah, that was my “lavar” adventure for the day.
