The hardest stuff to remove EVER!

[Lumberg]

I bought my house a few years ago from an Asian family. I don't know if this is their cooking grease or not, but the old range hood is covered in brown drops of this sticky goo that nothing will cut.

Standard kitchen cleansers-check

Took out, put in back yard, sprayed heavy duty engine degreaser on it (Engine brite)-check

Carb and throttle cleaner--nada

Brake Cleaner--seems to thin the top layer a bit, but doesn't truly dissolve it.

This stuff is insane. It's the original range hood (pretty sure), about 23-year-old house.

This stuff is the nastiest of the nasty.

So I just fVck!ng painted over it (stove is white, range top was almond, wife wanted a new range hood, even though this one works fine (fan, light, etc)

It's white now.

What would you have used?

 

[moribundman]

I had a similar problem with the grease trap in my kitchen. The previous tenants apparently never cleaned it and I had to dump the trap, because it was so gross. Alas, because the hood was so old, I couldn't find a replacement filter. I guess I'm slowly greasing the whole exhaust pipe! Ack!

 

[Pablo]

Hot caustic. (NaOH)

Boiling stong solution of powdered dish washer detergent might.

Acetone and Methylene cloride.

 

[MarkC]

Do not get methylene chloride on bare skin and don't inhale the vapors.Chap you skin and damage your inner parts.

 

[wander2039]

My better half is asian, and they to fry about everything. And what they don't fry they maranate. I took comet bathroom cleaner and a green scratcher to her stove. Took 5 cleanings to see that is was white. I gave up on cleaning it, i'll do it when bordem hits. I may just do a 6 month cleaning with the pressure washer. Depending on where the family was from they use different types of oil, can't remember the name, and you can only from certain asian stores. Other than that if isn't oil, brown gooey stuff covers 3/4 of the stuff in our cabinet.

 

[XS650]

Sounds like seriously polymerized cross-linked oil. Try paint remover made for tough baked on enamel.

Follow MarkC's precautions about dealing with chemicals that can hose up your internal organs.

 

[labman]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pablo:
Hot caustic. (NaOH)

Boiling stong solution of powdered dish washer detergent might.

Acetone and Methylene cloride.

---

Go with the caustic. It will rip the ester linkages apart holding the unsaturated fatty acids to the glycerin. Might even spare the baked enamel under it. Remember this thread the next time you see Labman bad mouthing natural oils as a lube.

 

[Steve S]

oven cleaner, a caustic.

 

[FowVay]

Have you tried Castrol Superclean or the 'PurpleStuff'? This is what I use to clean my range hood after a deep frier dinner. If you have years of build-up then just let it soak for ten minutes and wipe with a warm water saturated sponge.

 

[wavinwayne]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lumberg:
....What would you have used?

---

A Sandblaster

 

[Pablo]

Of course use safe precautions.

 

[Lumberg]

quote:

---

Originally posted by FowVay:
Have you tried Castrol Superclean or the 'PurpleStuff'? This is what I use to clean my range hood after a deep frier dinner. If you have years of build-up then just let it soak for ten minutes and wipe with a warm water saturated sponge.

---

I think I used something called "Purple Power" which is borderline generic sutomitive grease cutter from Pep Boys, I THINK.

You know what, the front plate I removed and put in the dishwasher...ran it on hot, with heavy soiling settings (usual setting in my house). Came out squeaky clean!

If only I could find a dishwasher big enough, or a 2-piece range hood!

 

[Lumberg]

Yeah so Pablo was dead on.

 

[Al]

GooGone

 

[keith]

I bought some stuff at Home Depot, called Goof-Off or something like that. It's a grafitti cleaner and has worked quite well for me.

 

[Clement]

Put the range hood in a tub. Put some drano or liquid plumber into a cup and spread onto the range with a real cheap paint brush. Wait 15 minutes and wash the **** outta everything with cold water. It should be nice and clean.

Coupla precautions:
chlorinated solvents are not good for you, but generally their health concerns are caused by long term exposure, not by short term exposure.

Hot Caustic - NaOH, KOH, Lye, Extremely dangerous. Very good cleaners, but they are corrosive and will cause immediate irreversible blindness if the stuff gets in your eyes. Wear EYE PROTECTION. This also applies to drain cleaner.

 

[acovington]

What about just replacing the range hood? Considering the time you'll have to invest in cleaning the old one, it might pay you to just get a new one. I don't know about the size, etc but a typical residential hood isn't expensive. A quick check at lowes.com finds many models under $200. I too just bought another house and I've been replacing many items like this.

 

[Pablo]

The caustic crap will blind you. If you mess with it, know what you are doing. I am thinking there are enough safety reminders in this thread, but don't sue me if you kill yourself or you get some on your whatever.

PS Since it's most easy to get - powdered dishwasher detergent - get some of that first, make a REALLY hot REALLY strong solution (to the point of powder not disolving). I have found this to be a great stainless cleaner for my beer stuff. It will even etch glass (as will caustic - especially KOH).......

 

[Matt_S]

I'm with acovington. I would have replaced the hood.

 

[Willy_G]

Have you tried steam?