Cleaning Hood Filters – Weekly Tip
Anthony here from Hood Cleaning Helper.com 
This week’s hood cleaning tip I want to deal with filters. If you do clean the filters for your customer, I hope his tip helps you get those filters sparkling so your customer will think you are the greatest thing sense sliced bread.
The first thing you want to do is pull the filters out of the hood before you get it wrapped.
I use an 18 gallon Rubbermaid tub that I got from Walmart for like $4. I actually have a couple of them in case there are a lot of filters. What you want to do is put about a cup – 8 oz – of dry caustic in the bottom of the tub. Using a hose, start filling the tub with COLD water until it’s about 3/4 of the way full. I sometimes put a little bit of Dawn or other surfactant in just before I turn off the hose. It will help separate the grease from the surface a little better.
Note: Your mixture for this does NOT have to be strong. Dwell time will be on your side, so you don’t have to have really strong chemicals for this.
Next, put in the filters all the same way. Now, leave them sitting for at least 10-15 minutes before their first rotation. Then every time you walk by them, just rotate them a quarter turn until you have gotten all sides. When you take them out to rinse, the grease should come off easily and save you tons of time with a pressure washer.
Now, be sure to neutralize your dirty water before you dispose of it properly. Another thing to consider for this is if the filters are galvanized, the chems will turn them black. If the filters are aluminum, there may not be filters left when you go to take them out of the tub. Caustic eats aluminum!!! Be careful.
Hope this tip helps, be on the lookout for next week’s tip. If you have any suggestions for tips, feel free to email or just post them in the comments below.
Hey Anthony, thanks for the tip seems like a great way to save time, but what do you mean it will turn the gavanized filters black, can that problem be fixed with a pressure washer
Good tip, keep up the great work.
hey Anthony, thanks for the tips it really helps!
hey there im from Prince Greoge British Columbia Canada and i really like your website its full of great helpful tips and videos i just started a company and need all the help i can get hopeing for somemore videos keep up the website its a great help
This is a great site. You mentioned something about neutralizing water before disposal. Any more information about that? How to neutralize it? Thanks
Alan you can drop in white vinegar. Sodium hydroxide is a base the vinegar is a acid you just need to get the PH down to 7 or 8 . Untreated SH has a PH of about 13. You can get test strips from a restaurant or pool supply place or if you look at a 3 vat sink the restaurant should have some test strips there to meet health code, ( Just ask before you use thier stuff)
Thank you for the information