How To Clean Kitchen Chimney: Professional Tested Methods

The kitchen chimney always plays a crucial role in the kitchen, especially if it’s in India. Cooking in India means a lot more species, oil, and ingredients. But with this, the main problem comes is cleanliness and hygiene of the cooking area. How to clean a kitchen chimney is still the biggest question when it comes to cleaning the kitchen.

Many of us have our own tried and tested techniques in terms of kitchen chimney cleaning. From old times we Indians believed that “cleanliness is godliness” and we refer kitchen as an “undisputed place of worship”.

But cleaning a kitchen is always time-consuming and sometimes expensive along with roof cleaning. Some brands have introduced strong chimney cleaning powders and sprays that work efficiently. 

Firstly, let's see why it is important to clean a chimney at your home.

 How Clean Chimney Can Help Your Home?

• The kitchen Chimney prevents the smoke from flowing throughout the house and prevents any problem related to breathing. It helps in maintaining the air quality. 

• In the modern-day kitchens, chimneys are an important part. It reflects the overall cleanliness of the kitchen.

• Cooking different foods leads to different odours that can be harmful and can cause discomfort will breathing.

• A clean chimney keeps the kitchen ventilated and lets new air take over that place.

Let’s not wait and find out some of the best ways to clean kitchen chimneys. We have enlisted some of the easy ways of cleaning a chimney or in simple terms, a list of some highly recommended DIY methods.   

How to Clean Kitchen Chimneys at Home: Easy Ways

Still, stressing out about how to clean the chimney at home? Let’s see some effective ways of cleaning a chimney.

1. Vinegar

Soak a cotton cloth in vinegar and rub it all over the chimney filters. This method is not that effective as it will remove slight oil stains only. You might face issues if the filter has certain gaps in between. But for that, you can use a toothbrush. It will not remove stubborn stains.

2. Baking Soda

It is one of the magical ingredients that is supposed to be in every Indian Kitchen. You can also call it a chimney cleaning power but everything should be done under the sun.

Make a paste of 2 tablespoons of baking soda with water, apply it to the chimney filters, and let it sit. Wipe it out with a moist cloth and for better results you can pour vinegar. At the end rinse thoroughly in water. But there are possibilities that the grease might not get removed completely.

3. Dishwashing Liquid

Actually, this method is time time-consuming than other methods. But you can really get better results compared to other methods. You can simply pour dishwashing liquids like Vim on the filter and then immerse it in water for hours.

For best results, you can pour boiling water on it and then clean it. The chances of the grease to get removed are high. 

4. Caustic Soda or Drainex

Be careful while handling caustic soda because it can cause skin irritations. Use rubber gloves and don’t breathe its fumes either. You can even use Drainex, drain unclogging powder too. Place the filter in the basin, spread caustic soda on the f5ilter, fill the basin with hot water, and make sure that the filter is completely immersed in the water.

After half an hour, take out the filter and wash it with running water. This is the most effective solution.

5. Degreaser Spray

These sprays are actually made for cleaning stubborn grease off ovens, and chimneys. Spray degreaser spray on both sides of the filter, and keep it in the sink for about 15-20 minutes.

The grease will melt away while spraying itself, scrub it lightly with a brush and then wash it off. The results are satisfactory but make sure that you use the spray in every corner.

6. Paint Thinner

Normally in a household, you can’t find a bottle of painting thinner. But if you have, then it’s one of the best solutions for cleaning a chimney.

Just apply the paint thinner all over the filter with a brush. Let it sit for an hour or two, then with a scrubbing brush, scrub out the grease. Do add thinner on tough spots, it will require a little bit of your energy and time also.

Keep the kids away from the thinner. 

7. Detergent

This can be the simple and most effective way for you to clean your chimney filters. All you need to do is, place the filter in a vessel, fill it with water, keep the vessel on the stove, let the water boil, and add a couple of spoons of detergent to it. 

At the end, use a toothbrush to scrub out the leftover stains. It needs a bit of energy and time.   

How Often One Should Clean The Chimney Filters?

It is always preferable and advisable to clean the chimney filters once every 2-3 months at the least. Indian cooking encounters a lot of oil and spices, which results in more stubborn dirt and faster dirtying of the chimney filters.

So for the kitchens in India, it is better to clean your chimney filters at least once every month. And if you cook less, you can skip the cleaning of the chimney for a couple of weeks.

Always take precautions, because the grease evolved on the filters is always a fire hazard and it increases the risk also.  

Cleaning of the chimney filters also depends on the type of filters installed in the kitchen.

1. Cassette Filters

They are multi-layered filters made of aluminum. They contain small pores, and grease sticks, and block them. It is recommended to clean these filters once every 8 to 10 days.

2. Baffle Filters

These filters don’t get clogged regularly, as they have technical filters for separating smoke and grease. It is advisable to clean the filters once in 2 to 4 weeks.

3. Charcoal Filters

They cannot be cleaned, as the charcoal granules present in the filters absorb the smoke, odor, and grease. So they actually need to get replaced once in 3 to 6 months.

Auto-Clean Chimneys

Have you ever heard about auto-clean chimneys? Well! In this modern era of technology, chimneys are also getting modernized. They come with an auto-clean technology that does not require any manual cleaning.

They are equipped with non-stick aluminum turbine blowers that work effectively from a button. As the fumes pass through it, it makes the oil and grease move forcefully towards the blower wall. It gets deposited in an oil collector, and you can easily remove the collector bowl and clean it.   

You can clean the bowl once every month, or it also depends on how much you use the chimney.

The best part of the auto-clean chimney is that the filter stays clean all the time and it never hampers the performance of the chimney.

They are a little bit expensive, but you can compare chimneys online at reasonable prices.

AMC(Annual Maintenace Contract) for the Kitchen Chimney

You might be in a confusion about whether to get the AMC(Annual Maintenance Contract) for the Kitchen Chimney or not.

Getting an AMC for the Kitchen Chimney is a better option than manually or personally cleaning the chimneys of the kitchen. Cleaning Chimneys can be dangerous sometimes and not advisable.

The kitchen where a lot of cooking goes on, can lead to the clogging of the chimneys with dense grease deposits. You can opt for an AMC with a reputed service provider or company to clean, repair, or maintain the chimney occasionally.

Conclusion

There are various professional chimney cleaning services that are available in the market. Cleaning a kitchen chimney is something that you might feel awful about. It is better to seek professional help to clean each and every part of the Kitchen Chimney which includes, a blower, motor, ducts, etc.

It will be better to opt for professional cleaning once in six months to ensure that the functionality of the chimneys is better. Professional cleaning of the chimneys is easier and safer also. Maximum one should clean kitchen chimneys once a year.

Make sure that the cleaning is done effortlessly with all safety precautions. Pick your phone and book a professional kitchen chimney cleaner at your convenience.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. Do chemical chimney cleaners work?

Ans:- The chemical actually works to some extent and can clean the kitchen chimney filters. This can reduce the early stages of creosote buildup and can maintain the life of the chimney.

Q2. What is the best way to clean a chimney pipe?

Ans:- The easiest way to clean the chimney is to brush the chimney flue from the top or bottom. All you need is a wire brush with an attached extension for the cleaning. 

Q3. What is auto-clean technology in a chimney?

Ans:- It comes fitted with a heating coil and a turbine blower inside. The blower moves and all the oil particles inside the chimney get collected near the blower wall. The coil will get heated and melt all the oil on the filters which will be collected in the tray. Anyone can easily remove and clean the tray.

Q4. What chemical is used for chimney cleaning?

Ans:- One can use various chemicals to clean the chimney which includes washing liquid, baking soda, caustic soda, vinegar, paint thinner, etc. These chemicals are easily available at home.