If there's a bad smell in your kitchen and you can't figure out where it's coming from, it might be time to give your extractor fan above the stove a good clean. Over time, grease, dust, and various bacteria can build up inside the fan, which will affect its ability to filter out smoke, steam, and odours from the kitchen.
It might start to get mouldy, posing a health risk, and it also becomes a serious fire hazard since the grease could catch fire at high temperatures. Lynsey Crombie, known as the UK's Queen of Clean on TV, has pointed out that fan filters hardly ever get cleaned, which can turn them into a hotspot for bacteria. Fortunately, cleaning the fan filters is super easy; you just need to slide out the filters and soak them in water along with one everyday item.
Taking to her Facebook page, Lynsey recommended household use of denture tablets to clean their extractor hood filters. She claimed that the results are "always amazing" after this hack.
Denture tablets are amazing at breaking down grease and grime. The fizzing action from the tablets, along with the hot water, loosens hidden grease and breaks it down, making it easier to clean.
Start by filling the sink with enough hot water to cover your fan filters, and pop in two denture tablets, then add in the filters. There's no need for scrubbing; just leave them to soak.
Lynsey recommends leaving them to soak in the denture tablet solution for 15 minutes before giving them a rinse.
Once Lynsey had left her cooker hood filters to soak for 15 minutes, they seemed spotless, and the water left behind was murky. While the filters were not completely filthy to begin with, the cleaner noted that they were very sticky.
Denture tablets are packed with chemical oxidising agents and bleaching components that help eliminate stains and kill bacteria. They also fizz when added to water due to their aerated properties.
This chemical reaction combines with the cleaning agents to lift away dirt and discolouration from the surfaces of items you're cleaning, be it dentures or the filters of your extractor fan.
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