We have a range hood that vents outside. I periodically clean the unit, but the chimney is pretty much inaccessible to me. I’m assuming I need to have the tube cleaned? Just based on the amount of grease I get from the bits I can access, I would think the chimney tube needs to be scrubbed out.
Any ideas? An actual chimney sweep wouldn’t be helpful since he/she couldn’t get in the 4-6" tube (I haven’t measured it, but it’s about that size).
I do need to clean the actual fans, too. There are two of them, and I noted (not surprisingly) a build-up on them. Though the grates seem to catch most of it, and those I can clean.
That would be a messy job, maybe better to replace the whole chimney… Grease, oils get blown up there, so solvents, maybe some serious detergents might break it down, but where’s it to go? Messy, way messy…
We don’t use the range vent often, its part of the microwave, I’ve replaced that a couple times, but never noticed any buildup…
I did just have my furnace guy clean out my dryer duct, a 25-20 foot horizontal run that hadn’t been cleaned in at least 35 years, a lot of stuff came out, good for another 30+!!
You do understand that the chimney sweep person does not actually go inside the chimney, Right???
Nope. Didn’t know that. The one time I ever lived anywhere that had a chimney, a person could have fit. It would have been tight, but they could fit. I figured they would do what was easiest, and sometimes that would be standing in the fireplace with the flue open, reaching up to scrape residues.
Good suggestion about the restaurant, though as the other poster pointed out, it may not be much of a fire hazard since there aren’t any embers to ignite anything.
No embers but the danger is from a grease fire on the stove igniting the ‘flue’. Not sure the ‘filter’, clean or not, would stop that. If not, that would get nasty very fast. That’s why restaurants in many (most?) states have required fire suppression systems in their hoods. It’s the fire in the exhaust system that burns them down not the fire on the range surface.
1PG I have watched this thread - it has been interesting. There have been just plain crazy ideas such as approaching removing grease like one would remove soot (small carbon particles) or creosote from a brick chimney. Reminded me of the “theory” of removing virus from blood with a sodium hypochlorite solution.
If you are concerned with whether or not the amount of grease in your system needs to be addressed, there are some steps to consider. Have you read the owner’s manual? How about manuals from other brands of vent hood? Ditto fan.
Vent hood fan systems are not rugged things like the radiator fans we both knew in 1955 Chevy V8s. The blades or squirrel cage are easy to bend. Even a small change can easily cause forces that will wear bearings or result is fan wobble. If that kind of force imbalance happens you are lucky of the fan only makes noise - that is better than the path of damaged bearings. If I really wanted to clean such a fan, I would opt for soaking in solvent, but no physical rubbing, scraping, or spraying with liquids.
The stuff in the vent system is most likely a good bit of vegetable and animal fat that has been partially oxidized and likely become less soluble over the years. There will be other solid materials like dust, dander a smoke from cooking and household activities. If you removed the vent pipe and fan, you could soak it or rinse it in a large tank of solvent. But the solvents that are most likely to work are not exactly absent of fire or health hazards not to speak of smoke and air pollution considerations.
So unless there is a clear and obvious symptom, I say leave it be. Keep the grease filters clean and direct your attention to the stones and rocks in the upper 9 inches of soil in your yard.
