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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@beehaw.org

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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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[–] CadeJohnson@toot.cat 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

@whaleross granular activated carbon for fish-tank filters is relatively less expensive - though you might be able to make your own charcoal with a fire-pit and have as effective material. Your stove hood filter probably has some kind of metal-framed and non-serviceable assembly - which could maybe be disassembled and "refilled". My vent hood filter appears to be a black piece of felt - questionable whether it actually contains carbon or not, tbh. I'd probably eventually replace it with metallic mesh in a multi-layered arrangement and not worry about carbon at all. The main role is to trap grease, not odors.

[–] whaleross@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

@CadeJohnson In my case it is recirculating the air so it does need to trap both grease and odors.

[–] CadeJohnson 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

If you think about it though, coming into a kitchen and saying "it smells good!" is OK; if the odor is bad, maybe lack of carbon filter is not the problem! lolz I have a recirculating fan, but I don't think it does much odor trapping. Odor molecules come in all sorts of forms - some adsorb to carbon and some don't. Although activated carbon has a large capacity considering the size of the particles of carbon, it can't do miracles. Furthermore, I suspect the carbon is encased in trapped oil long before its odor-absorbing capacity is exhausted (though I guess that depends on one's cooking style).

(I posted words to this effect many hours ago, but that post seems to have been lost)