TL;DR
A range hood drips because the mesh filter is saturated and can no longer hold the grease it condenses. Once the mesh is full, new condensate runs off instead of staying put. Washing the filter fixes it. Drips from the seams or the duct instead of the filter are a technician call.
Why Does My Range Hood Drip Grease?
The filter's job is to condense airborne cooking oil out of the rising air and hold it in the mesh layers. It has a finite capacity. When the layers are loaded, incoming droplets have nowhere to go and gravity takes them back down onto the cooktop.
The drip is the symptom of a filter past its service point, not a design flaw. It usually appears suddenly after months of nothing, which is exactly the pattern of a container filling up.
Where Is the Grease Actually Coming From?
Look at where it lands. Drips directly under the filter panel mean a saturated filter. Drips from the outer edges of the hood body, from a seam, or from a joint mean grease has passed the filter and pooled inside the housing or the duct.
The second case is more serious. Grease inside the housing and the duct is a fire hazard, and once the duct run has accumulated a coating, cleaning the filter will not empty it.
Recurrence tells you which one you have. If the drip returns within days of a proper filter wash, the grease is not coming from the filter.
How Do You Clean a Range Hood Filter?
Slide the mesh filter out and soak it in very hot water with a degreasing dish soap for fifteen to thirty minutes, then brush both faces and rinse. Many metal mesh filters are also dishwasher safe. Let it dry completely before reinstalling.
A badly loaded filter may need a second soak. Change the water when it goes cloudy, because a saturated wash bath just redeposits the grease.
Do not put an aluminum mesh filter through repeated harsh alkaline cycles if the manual advises against it, since strong alkalis darken and pit aluminum. Check the manual first.
How Often Should the Filter Be Washed?
Monthly in a home that cooks most nights, and every two to three months with light cooking. Frying, wok cooking, and searing shorten that interval sharply.
Two filters make this easier. Wash one while the other is in service, and there is never a reason to leave a saturated filter in place.
Charcoal filters in recirculating hoods are a separate item. They are replaced, not washed, on the schedule the appliance manual gives. A spent charcoal filter is a common reason a recirculating hood stops removing odor even though the mesh looks clean.
Cleaning the Hood Housing
Once the filter is out, the inside of the hood canopy is reachable. Wipe it with hot water and a degreasing dish soap, let the cleaner sit for a minute, then wipe again with a clean damp cloth and dry it.
Work with the grain on a stainless hood and never use chloride bleach on it, which pits stainless steel. Skip abrasive pads entirely, since they leave permanent scratch patterns.
Cover the cooktop with a towel while you work. Whatever you loosen will fall, and grease landing on a warm glass surface is how the white haze on a glass cooktop problem starts.
Never mix cleaners. Bleach combined with ammonia, with any acid, or with alcohol releases toxic gas. Ventilate the room while degreasing.
When Is a Dripping Hood a Technician Call?
Call an appliance or HVAC technician when the drip is coming from the housing seams rather than the filter, when the blower rattles, when airflow has dropped noticeably, or when the drip continues after a proper filter wash.
Duct cleaning past the first accessible section is a trade job. The run may be several feet of ductwork through a ceiling or wall, and grease in it is a genuine fire risk. A homeowner degreasing routine does not reach it and should not try.
The same applies to a hood that vents into an attic or a soffit rather than outside, which is an installation fault and needs correcting rather than cleaning.
Recirculating Versus Ducted Hoods
A ducted hood pushes air outside. A recirculating hood passes it through a charcoal filter and returns it to the room. Both use a mesh grease filter, and both drip when that mesh saturates.
Recirculating hoods have a second failure mode: the charcoal stops adsorbing odor long before anything visible happens. If cooking smells linger while the mesh looks fine, the charcoal is the suspect. That connects directly to a kitchen that smells like grease for days.
Habits That Reduce the Load
Turn the hood on before the burner and leave it running for ten minutes after cooking. Grease that leaves the room never lands anywhere.
Use back burners when you can, because hoods capture them far better than front burners. Cover pans while frying. Wipe the cooktop and the hood underside while they are still warm and the film has not set.
The kitchen cleaning guide covers the surrounding routine, and the cleaning troubleshooting guide covers other problems that come back on a clock. When the whole kitchen needs more than a filter wash, house cleaning services cover the deeper reset.
FAQ
Why does my range hood drip grease onto the stove?
The mesh filter is saturated and cannot hold any more condensed cooking oil, so new droplets run back down instead of staying in the mesh. Washing or replacing the filter stops it. A drip that continues after a proper wash is coming from the housing or duct instead.
How do I clean a greasy range hood filter?
Soak the mesh in very hot water with degreasing dish soap for fifteen to thirty minutes, brush both faces, and rinse thoroughly. Many metal filters are dishwasher safe if the manual allows it. Change the water if it turns cloudy, and let the filter dry fully before reinstalling.
How often should a range hood filter be cleaned?
Monthly for a household that cooks most nights, or every two to three months with light cooking. Frying and searing shorten the interval. Keeping a spare filter means one can be in service while the other is being washed.
Can I wash a charcoal range hood filter?
No. Charcoal filters in recirculating hoods are replaced rather than cleaned, on the schedule in the appliance manual. Washing one does not restore it. A spent charcoal filter is a common reason a recirculating hood stops controlling odor.
Is grease dripping from a range hood a fire hazard?
Grease accumulated inside the hood housing and duct is a recognized fire risk, which is why filters exist. A dripping filter itself is mostly a nuisance, but it signals that grease is now passing into the housing. Clean the filter promptly and have the duct serviced by a technician.
Why does my hood still drip after cleaning the filter?
Grease has already accumulated inside the housing or the duct run, so the source is above the filter. That needs an appliance or HVAC technician rather than another wash, since the duct is not reachable with household cleaning tools and is a genuine fire risk when coated.
A dripping hood is usually a saturated filter and a half hour of work. A whole-kitchen reset is a bigger question, and every home is different, so the real scope depends on size, condition, and what you want covered. Get a quote and we will walk you through it.