Home / Kitchen Extraction Cleaning / Guide
Extraction cleaning - filter cleaning
Grease filters load with grease fast, so they need cleaning regularly - often between the professional cleans of the wider system. Doing this filter cleaning right keeps the filters working, keeps the grease under control, and keeps the kitchen safe. Here is the right way to clean grease filters yourself, and where the limits of what DIY cleaning covers lie.
The short answer
Grease filters need regular cleaning between professional visits because they load with grease quickly. The right way to clean them: remove the filters safely, clean them to remove the grease - soaking or washing them in hot water with a degreaser, or as suitable for the filter type - until the grease is removed, then dry them and refit them. Do this regularly, at a frequency matched to how fast they load. Cleaning the filters properly keeps them working - unclogged and effective at catching grease - and keeps the grease load down. But filter cleaning is only part of the picture: it does not reach the grease inside the wider system, the canopy interior and ductwork, which still need professional cleaning. So clean the filters right and regularly, and let the professional cleaning handle the rest.
Filters need regular cleaning
Grease filters - the metal filters in the canopy that catch grease from the extracted air - load with grease quickly, because catching grease is their job and they do it constantly while the kitchen cooks. So they need cleaning regularly, and often more frequently than the wider system is professionally cleaned - meaning filter cleaning is typically something done between the professional visits, as part of the kitchen's own routine. Keeping the filters clean between the professional cleans is important, because filters left to clog with grease work less well and hold a grease load that is best kept down.
So cleaning the grease filters is a regular task the kitchen handles itself, in between the professional cleaning of the whole system. Doing it right matters: cleaning the filters properly keeps them working - unclogged and catching grease effectively - and keeps the grease load in the filters under control, which is both a performance and a fire-safety benefit. Poor or infrequent filter cleaning, by contrast, leaves the filters clogged and grease-laden, working badly and carrying a grease load. So the right way to clean the filters, done regularly, is a genuine part of keeping the extraction working and safe between the professional cleans. Knowing how to do it properly is worthwhile.
How to clean them right
The right way to clean grease filters follows a straightforward process. First, remove the filters safely - taking them out of the canopy carefully, since they can be greasy and the canopy may be awkward to reach. Second, clean them to remove the grease: the usual method is to soak or wash the filters in hot water with a suitable degreaser, which loosens and removes the grease, cleaning them until the grease is removed. Some filters can be cleaned in a dishwasher if suitable, but soaking or washing with a degreaser is the common approach. The aim is to get the grease off, so the filter is genuinely clean rather than just wiped.
Third, dry the filters - letting them dry before refitting, so they go back clean and dry. And fourth, refit them - putting the cleaned filters back in the canopy correctly. Done this way, the filters are properly cleaned: the grease removed, the filter restored to catching grease effectively. The key is that the grease is actually removed, not just superficially cleaned - a filter still greasy after cleaning has not been done properly. So the process is remove, clean thoroughly to remove the grease, dry, and refit - a simple routine that, done properly and regularly, keeps the filters clean and working. Doing it safely matters too, given the grease and the awkwardness of reaching the canopy, so care in removing and refitting the filters is part of doing it right.
Do it regularly
As important as doing the filter cleaning right is doing it regularly - at a frequency matched to how fast the filters load with grease. Because filters load quickly, they need cleaning often, and the busier the kitchen and the more grease-heavy the cooking, the faster they load and the more frequently they need cleaning. So the right frequency depends on the kitchen's use: a busy kitchen may need to clean its filters very frequently, a lighter one less often, but in all cases regularly enough to keep the filters from becoming heavily clogged. Cleaning them on a suitable regular schedule keeps them working and the grease load down.
Letting the filters go too long between cleanings undermines the whole point: heavily clogged filters work poorly and carry a heavy grease load, which is both a performance problem and a fire risk. So the filters should not be left until they are heavily greased but cleaned regularly, before the grease builds up too far. Matching the cleaning frequency to how fast the particular kitchen's filters load - cleaning them often enough to keep them from clogging - is part of doing filter cleaning right. So the two elements of good filter cleaning are doing it properly - removing the grease thoroughly - and doing it regularly - at a frequency suited to the kitchen's use. Together these keep the filters clean, working, and their grease load controlled between the professional cleans.
The limits of filter cleaning
It is important to understand what filter cleaning does and does not cover, because it is only part of keeping the extraction clean. Cleaning the grease filters addresses the filters - the accessible grease-catching components in the canopy - but it does not reach the grease inside the wider system: the interior of the canopy beyond the filters, and crucially the ductwork. That internal grease, particularly in the ductwork, is where much of the fire risk lies, and it is beyond what filter cleaning reaches. So however well and regularly you clean the filters, the grease inside the rest of the system still accumulates and still needs addressing.
That internal grease is what professional cleaning handles - the thorough cleaning that reaches inside the canopy and along the ductwork to remove the grease there, which filter cleaning cannot touch. So filter cleaning and professional system cleaning are complementary: the regular filter cleaning keeps the filters clean and their grease down between visits, and the periodic professional cleaning removes the grease from inside the wider system. Neither replaces the other. A kitchen that cleans its filters diligently but never has the system professionally cleaned still has grease building up in the canopy interior and ductwork, with the fire risk that carries. So the right approach is to clean the filters properly and regularly yourself, and to have the professional cleaning of the whole system on its cycle - the filters handled by you between visits, the internal grease by the professionals. Doing the filter cleaning right is valuable, but it is one part of keeping the extraction clean, not the whole.
The takeaway
Grease filters load with grease quickly, so they need cleaning regularly, typically between the professional cleans of the wider system. The right way to clean them: remove the filters safely, clean them to remove the grease - soaking or washing in hot water with a degreaser until the grease is off - then dry them and refit them, doing this regularly at a frequency matched to how fast they load. Cleaning them properly and regularly keeps the filters working, unclogged and catching grease, and keeps their grease load down.
But filter cleaning is only part of keeping the extraction clean. It addresses the filters, not the grease inside the wider system - the canopy interior and the ductwork, where much of the fire risk lies - which is beyond what filter cleaning reaches and needs professional cleaning. So the two are complementary: clean the filters right and regularly yourself, between visits, and have the professional cleaning handle the internal grease on its cycle. A kitchen that cleans its filters well but never has the system professionally cleaned still has grease building up inside. So do the filter cleaning right, and let the professional cleaning do the rest.
Questions
Remove the filters safely from the canopy; clean them to remove the grease - soaking or washing in hot water with a suitable degreaser until the grease is off; dry them; and refit them correctly. The key is that the grease is actually removed, not just superficially cleaned - a filter still greasy after cleaning has not been done properly.
Regularly, at a frequency matched to how fast they load with grease - which depends on the kitchen's use. A busy, grease-heavy kitchen may need to clean its filters very frequently; a lighter one less often. In all cases, clean them regularly enough to keep them from becoming heavily clogged, before the grease builds up too far.
Some filters can be cleaned in a dishwasher if suitable for it, but the common approach is to soak or wash them in hot water with a degreaser, which loosens and removes the grease. Whichever method, the aim is to get the grease genuinely off, so the filter is properly clean rather than just wiped.
Because filters load quickly and, left too long, become heavily clogged - working poorly at catching grease and carrying a heavy grease load, which is both a performance problem and a fire risk. Cleaning them regularly, before the grease builds up too far, keeps them working and their grease load down.
No - filter cleaning addresses the filters, but does not reach the grease inside the wider system: the canopy interior and the ductwork, where much of the fire risk lies. That internal grease still accumulates and needs professional cleaning, which reaches inside the system in a way filter cleaning cannot.
Yes. Filter cleaning and professional system cleaning are complementary: regular filter cleaning keeps the filters clean between visits, and periodic professional cleaning removes the grease from inside the canopy and ductwork. A kitchen that cleans its filters well but never has the system professionally cleaned still has grease building up inside.
Your regular filter cleaning keeps the filters working between visits - and our professional cleaning reaches the grease inside the canopy and ductwork that filter cleaning cannot, on its proper cycle.
