How To Clean Kitchen Chimney
If you are a person who loves cooking then you would regularly need to do chimney cleaning. When you cook all the odors of food, vinegar, smoke, oils, and other vapors, grease and moisture get attached to your kitchen cabinets, walls, and ceiling and can be dangerous for your health.
Installing a chimney comes as a blessing as it eliminates food odors, smoke, and moisture and absorbs it all inside them. But in the process, they get full of dust, grease, and smoke which requires cleaning by chimney repair companies. There are many ways to do chimney cleaning yourself at home.
Why Cleaning Chimney Is Important?
Most kitchen chimneys contain a mesh filter or a baffle filter. Grease, oil, and moisture get stuck and form a film on the mesh filter. This dirt layer does not protect against further smoke, oil, and grease and hence does not protect the health. So it is important to regularly perform chimney cleaning at home. It is also recommended to call chimney repair companies or professional cleaning annually to maintain the efficient working of the kitchen chimney.
How To Clean Chimney?
- Detergent
You can take out the mesh and baffle filter and keep it in a bucket full of warm water and pour lots of kitchen detergent. Let the filter soak for at least 1 to 2 hours. The detergent will effectively remove all the grease and oil stains and will clean it up. You can also put the filter in boiling water so that the grease and dirt loosen up and get removed easily. After that, take out the filter and scrub thoroughly with a small brush to remove all the grime and grease.
- Baking Soda and Vinegar
For thorough and effective cleaning and removal of grease and stains, the baking soda and vinegar solution works best. Baking soda is highly abrasive in nature and also considered an all-purpose kitchen cleaner, hence it can remove stubborn stains and grime efficiently. Vinegar, baking soda and salt are all disinfectants in nature, hence they will help to keep your kitchen bacteria and germ-free and clean.
Pour a bucket full of water and let it come to a boiling point, add 3 to 4 tablespoons of baking soda, 2 cups of vinegar and 3 tablespoons of salt in the boiling water. Immerse the filter in the water completely and let it soak for at least 2 hours and then you can scrub with a scrubber to make it completely new. You can also boil the filter for 30 minutes to make completely grime and grease free.
- Paint Thinners
Paint thinners are also an effective way to clean the chimney filters easily. If you do not have a paint thinner, you can also use nail polish remover as it serves the same purpose and will also clean the filter efficiently. This is a very easy and effective way of cleaning the kitchen chimney. Soak a soft cloth in paint thinner and then use it to clean and scrub the filters, the mesh and the other parts of the whole chimney thoroughly. After the scrubbing, wash all the parts with water and keep it under the sun to dry it naturally.
- Caustic Soda
If your kitchen chimney is extremely dirty and full of grease then you can try the caustic soda method. You have to be very careful while using caustic soda as it is very acidic in nature and highly abrasive. Wear gloves before cleaning and do not touch the caustic soda with your bare hands and it can burn your hands. Also, it is important to wear a mask as the cleaning process will cause fumes which are dangerous if you inhale them. Put the furnace or filter on a tray and sprinkle a handful of caustic soda on the mesh filters and then pour boiling water on it. The pouring of the water will release dangerous fumes. Leave it as it for 2 to 3 hours, scrub thoroughly to clean, wash it under running water and leave it to dry.
Even if the chimney is still not clean after these methods, you should call in professional chimney repair companies bowie md.
