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How to Clean a Smeg Rangehood

The filters are the part everyone cleans and the part that matters least once they are soaked. The grease that causes the smell and the noise is behind them, in the fan housing.

7 min read · Written by Oven Valets, cleaning rangehoods across Sydney and greater NSW for 15+ years

Drop the metal filters and soak them flat in hot water with a non-caustic degreaser for an hour. Aluminium mesh must never go in a dishwasher, which oxidises it grey. Charcoal filters are not washable and are replaced. Then clean the fan housing behind the filters, which is where the grease actually collects.

Most rangehood cleaning advice stops at the filters, which is why most rangehoods stay dirty. A filter is a trap, and a trap that is emptied still leaves everything that got past it. On a hood that has been running for a few years, the grease you can see on the filter is a fraction of the grease sitting in the fan housing behind it.

This guide covers both, and it starts with working out which sort of Smeg hood you have, because that decides whether the extraction is even leaving the room.

Ducted or recirculating, and why it matters

Ducted hoods push air outside through a duct in the ceiling or wall. They have metal filters only, and those filters catch grease so the duct stays clear.

Recirculating hoods filter the air and blow it back into the kitchen. They have the same metal grease filters plus a charcoal filter behind them to take out the smell. Charcoal filters are not washable and never have been. They are a consumable, they are replaced every six to twelve months depending on how hard the kitchen works, and a hood that has stopped controlling odours almost always has an exhausted one still sitting in it.

If you have never replaced a charcoal filter and your hood does not vent outside, that is the first thing to check. Washing it, which people do, turns it into a wet obstruction that reduces airflow and does nothing for smell.

The filters on a Smeg

Smeg canopy hoods generally use stainless baffle filters, and the undermount and slide-out models use aluminium mesh. Both drop out by hand and both are soaked flat rather than put through a dishwasher, which oxidises aluminium mesh permanently. The full method is on our rangehood cleaning guide, along with the impeller housing behind them, which is where the smell and the noise actually come from.

What is specific to Smeg is what surrounds them.

The canopy and the ducting

The outside of a Smeg hood is usually stainless or, on a Victoria or Portofino range hood, an enamel finish matched to the cooker below it.

  • Stainless takes a soft cloth and a proper stainless cleaner, worked along the grain. Across the grain leaves visible swirls that catch the light. Never a scourer.
  • Enamel and any colour finish takes warm soapy water only. The same caution that applies to a coloured Smeg range front applies here: caustic cleaner strips the finish and the panel is a special order.
  • The chrome or brass trim on the range-style hoods tarnishes under caustic cleaner, permanently, exactly as the knob collars on the cooker do.
  • The internal duct can be wiped as far as your arm reaches. Beyond that it is a job for someone with the right equipment, and on a hood that has run for a decade without a clean it is worth doing, because a duct lined with hardened fat is a genuine fire risk.

What actually goes wrong

Grey, chalky mesh filters from a dishwasher cycle. Permanent, and the most common avoidable damage on any rangehood.

A charcoal filter that has never been changed on a recirculating hood, doing nothing but restricting airflow.

A distorted mesh frame from being scrubbed too hard, so it no longer seals against the hood and grease goes straight past it.

Swirl marks on stainless from cleaning across the grain instead of along it.

A hood that is louder after a clean than before it, which usually means the impeller was disturbed and not reseated, or cleaned unevenly so it is still out of balance.

Should you do it yourself?

Do it yourself for the filters. Dropping them out and soaking them is genuinely easy, it makes a visible difference, and doing it every couple of months prevents most of the rest.

Do it yourself for the canopy, with the right cleaner for the finish and a cloth worked along the grain.

Get someone in for the fan housing, for a hood that has developed a smell or a rattle, for a recirculating hood you are not sure has ever had its charcoal filter changed, or for any hood that has run for years without attention. That last case is not really a cleaning job, it is a decade of hardened fat, and it is the one where the ducting is worth checking too.

Most people book the hood together with the Smeg cooktop beneath it and the Smeg oven below that, because grease the hood fails to extract lands on both.

Keeping it clean

  1. 1Run the hood on every cook, not only the smoky ones, and leave it running for five minutes afterwards to clear the residual vapour.
  2. 2Use it on a lower speed for longer rather than full speed for a minute. Steady extraction catches more than a burst does.
  3. 3Soak the metal filters every couple of months. It takes ten minutes of attention and an hour of waiting.
  4. 4Diarise the charcoal filter if the hood recirculates. Six to twelve months, and nobody ever remembers without a reminder.
  5. 5Wipe the canopy when you wipe the cooktop, so fat never gets the chance to bake onto it.

When the smell or the noise has started, the filters are not the problem and booking a clean is the answer. Check we cover your suburb on our service areas page.

Smeg rangehood questions

Can I put Smeg rangehood filters in the dishwasher?
Not aluminium mesh filters. Dishwasher detergent is strongly alkaline and oxidises aluminium, leaving the mesh a chalky grey that never recovers, and on some designs it softens the adhesive holding the frame together. Stainless baffle filters will survive a dishwasher, but a flat soak in hot water with a non-caustic degreaser cleans both types better and risks neither.
How often should a rangehood charcoal filter be replaced?
Every six to twelve months, depending on how much you cook. Charcoal filters only exist on recirculating hoods, which filter the air and return it to the kitchen rather than ducting it outside. They are not washable and never have been, so washing one turns it into a wet obstruction that restricts airflow without doing anything for odours. A hood that has stopped controlling smells almost always has an exhausted charcoal filter still in it.
Why does my rangehood smell even after cleaning the filters?
Because the grease that causes the smell is behind them. Everything the filter misses gets thrown against the fan housing by the impeller and hardens into a brown lacquer that warms up every time the hood runs. Cleaning the filters removes the part you can see and leaves the part that smells. Reaching the impeller and housing is what actually fixes it, and on a recirculating hood an exhausted charcoal filter is the other likely cause.
Why has my rangehood become noisy?
Grease building unevenly on the impeller blades puts the fan out of balance, and a hood that was quiet develops a hum or a rattle. It is a reliable sign that the housing behind the filters has not been cleaned. Restricted airflow from loaded filters or a blocked charcoal filter makes it worse, because the motor works harder for less air.
How do I clean a stainless steel rangehood without leaving marks?
Work along the grain, never across it, with a soft cloth and a proper stainless cleaner. Cleaning across the grain leaves fine swirls that catch the light and are difficult to remove afterwards. Avoid scourers entirely. If your hood has an enamel or coloured finish rather than stainless, which the range-style hoods often do, use warm soapy water only, because caustic cleaner strips those finishes permanently.
Is it safe to clean inside a rangehood myself?
The filters and canopy are straightforward. Going into the fan housing needs the power isolated first, at the wall or at the circuit breaker if the hood is hard wired, because an impeller that starts while your hand is inside causes serious injury. Beyond that, whether the housing opens at all depends on the model, and a motor that gets wet is a worse problem than a motor that is greasy. If the cover does not come off with a few screws, clean what you can reach and leave the rest.

How Oven Valets cleans a Smeg rangehood

  • Our products are non-caustic and biodegradable, so coatings, trim and seals are not at risk and the appliance is safe to use as soon as we leave.
  • Removable parts come out and are cleaned separately rather than wiped in place, and every piece goes back where it belongs.
  • We tell you what we find, including when a part is past saving, rather than cleaning around it.
  • Fully insured, with fixed GST-inclusive pricing and no call-out fee.

Rather have someone else do it?

Fixed, GST-inclusive pricing with no call-out fee. Non-caustic and biodegradable products, so the appliance is safe to use as soon as we leave. Rated 4.9 from 88 Google reviews.

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