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Carbon filter for kitchen hood fan (kbin.social)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by whaleross@kbin.social to c/diy

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My kitchen stove hood fan needs a new carbon filter as the current one lookes pretty caked with grease from the previous owners of the place. It turns out the manufacturers filters cost €150 which I find a bit excessive. Filters seem to be the printer ink of the kitchen.

So I'm thinking either if it is possible to clean out the current one, or reuse the casing and refill it with some bulk carbon filter material, if there is such to be found.

I have no idea, I've never done anything of this sort before.

Experiences, ideas, suggestions much appreciated.

Edit: There is a metal mesh under that is washable, but also an internal filter, as the hood is recirculating the air back into the kitchen. My apartment building does not allow kitchen fan exhaust into the ventilation system.

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[–] AdminWorker@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

How to clean heavy caked on grease:

grease is a type of oil aka "non polar liquid". A light grease (like veggie or olive oil) can dissolve it over a long period of time, or you can scrub it off using any kind of abrasive doused in the light oil. After there is nothing but light oil left, rinse it off with water then soap and water. Easy peasy.

How to refresh a activated carbon filter:

You dont. The requirement is to make a 0 oxygen environment and heat up some carbon in a kiln in that environment. There are some stand alone "air purifiers" that you can get from homedepot, but as you say "filters are the printers ink". Some really high end filters like "bunny farts" or bunny air or something use Granulated Activated Carbon (GAC), but most of the cheap ones will take activated carbon dust and make it into a wet slurry and spread over a sponge the size of your filter, so you technically have activated carbon. Good luck on getting a cheap replacement.

[–] whaleross@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

@AdminWorker Thanks. While disassembling I realized it doesn't seem to leak grease through as I mistakenly thought first, but now I think the casing leaks tiny amounts of unfiltered air that builds up a layer of grease over the years. So I used kitchen spray and paper to gently clean the clogged entry surface area of the filter. It seems to have good suction power, we'll see if the coal still works.

Otherwise, I've found active coal pellets for air purification use on amazon and figure it should be possible to cut the felt on entry side open, replace coal with new and glue on some new felt.

I doubt it's any particular high end coal in these filters and that the €150 price is because of $2 proprietary plastic frame so they can.