Keeping the smell out of your home while cooking is really important, especially if you are preparing something aromatic. You don’t want every member of the family to smell like they have cooked the meal by themselves. Luckily, this can be easily accomplished with the use of a kitchen hood.
With the ability to keep the greases out of your kitchen elements, you should not wonder why the duct gets so dirty. This is the most overlooked piece of equipment, and it usually gets built up with greases that make it hard to be cleaned.
In this article, we’ll provide a couple of tips to understand how the kitchen duct cleaning process goes. Keep reading, and find out why is this process important, so you can come up with a cleaning schedule and keep your kitchen shiny.
The Importance of a Clean Kitchen Duct
With use, the kitchen duct gets filled with grease from all the cooking you did. While at the beginning this is nothing too serious, as oils get adhered to the walls, they’ll begin obstructing the airflow. With that, you will notice how the steam does not get vacuumed inside the hood.
Not only this will ruin the performance of the equipment, but it will make them work more than needed which will cause a rise in your bills.
In addition, large amounts of oil can easily lead to a hazardous situation. If a spark from the cooking gets inside the duct, the grease gets inflamed and can cause a fire. This is serious and has to be taken with responsibility.
Lastly, a dirty duct just ruins the aesthetics of your kitchen. By looking at something disgusting, you lose the will for cooking. If you are passionate about cooking your meals, be sure to keep everything clean to boost your motivation for preparing food in the future.
Ways of Cleaning the Duct
To fully understand the kitchen duct cleaning process, we have to explain how to do the cleaning by ourselves. We will go through the four large steps of the process, so you don’t miss anything, and ensure proper functionality after.
Begin with the air filter
To prevent oils from stacking on the inside of the vents, every hood comes with a filtering mechanism. This is where most of the grease gets stuck, so being sure of the cleanliness of this part is essential.
The first thing you will have to do is take out the air filter. This is usually easy to be done since most hoods come with a spring mechanism that pops the filter right out. Depending on the hood you have, it is better to read the manual and be sure about how this is done.
If your filter is made of metal, you should take it out and wash it. This can be done by putting it in a plastic container and filling it with detergent and degreaser. After a bit of scrubbing, it should be good. Another thing you can do is put it inside the dishwasher to be sure everything is good to go.
In case the hood you have has a filter made of charcoal, you cannot clean it. Do proper disposal, and find a replacement filter. You should consider getting a new filter every year, to maintain proper functionality.
Clean the hood
After you have taken the filter out and removed the gunk, you should get to cleaning the outside of the hood. As steam goes up, it gets in contact with the outside of the hood so there can be some nasty grease marks.
Although this does not affect the functionality of the kitchen duct, it just makes everything look unappealing and disgusting. For that reason, you should be sure to clean the outer portion of the duct and make the kitchen look shiny.
This can be done by using degreasers and doing a mild rubbing. When all the gunk gets cleaned, just wipe everything down and it should look fantastic.
Check and clean the insides of the vents
Checking the insides of the vents is another part of the process. If you see that there is a large amount of grease, you should be sure to get everything cleaned. However, this might be a process too complicated to do by yourself.
Instead, many people are considering hiring a professional duct cleaning service to get everything handled appropriately. With many years of experience, they make kitchen duct maintenance look easy and quick. Since efficiency is something we all look for, hiring professionals may be the right move as suggested by ductcare.com.
Cleanse the fan
Besides the insides of the vents, the oils can get stuck to the surface of the fan as well. This might cause spinning problems where the duct becomes inefficient. In addition, this may lead to an unneeded load on the motor which causes breaks.
For that reason, every time you are getting your duct cleaned, be sure to inspect the fans and motors. In case some signs lead to damages, consider replacing the motor.
How Often Should the Kitchen Duct Be Cleaned
The frequency of cleaning is dependent on your use. If you are cooking every single day, you should do weekly cleanups. The filter should be checked and cleaned every month if it is made of metal, in case you have a charcoal one, wait until it is completely clogged.
The type of food that is being prepared is also a determinant of the cleaning frequency. If you are not consuming too oily foods, you do not have to adopt such a strict and frequent cleaning schedule.
As stated above, you will prevent hazardous situations, as well as keep the rest of the home odorless. For that reason, having the duct clean and free of oils is essential for the wellness of your home.
If you need more information, you can simply reach out to the duct cleaning professionals and they will be happy to explain. That way, you will precisely know how often should your duct be cleaned, and you will arrange a schedule with them suitable for your needs. Working with professionals is always nice, so be sure to experience that on your own.