Grease Dripping Back Onto the Cooktop
| Reads like | Actually is |
|---|---|
| The hood is leaking | A drain path that has stopped draining — Grease Cup and Drain Channel |
| It only drips while the hood is running | Moving air pushing what had already pooled over the lip |
| It started right after a deep clean | Softened deposits travelling, then setting somewhere narrower |
| The filters must be worn out | Filters catching exactly what they should, with nowhere to send it |
Where it is supposed to end up
Everything the filters take out of the air must go somewhere. It runs down the baffles, collects in the trough behind and below them, and travels along it to whatever the canopy uses to hold it. That path is short, shallow, and depends on the grease staying liquid.
A channel that has stopped draining
Two things stop it. The reservoir fills, and the trough backs up until the front lip is the lowest exit left. Or the channel glazes over: light cooking leaves a film, the film sets, and the next heavy fry has nowhere to run.
The second surprises people in the older kitchens around Atwater Village and Eagle Rock, where a hood on a short wall run carries less heat and deposits harden where they land.
What to empty before you call
Take the cup out, empty it and wash it. Lift the filters and look along the trough with a torch. Anything reachable from the floor is yours to clean. What sits above the filters, behind the baffle channel or inside the transition is the visit.
What you can look at yourself
- Find the cup or tray at the end of the channel and lift it out. Where one is fitted it usually comes away by hand, and emptying it is often the whole repair.
- Run a finger along the trough under the filters. A soft film is normal; a hard ridge means nothing has drained for a long time.
- Watch where the drops land. Under the front lip points at the channel; at one end points at a filter sitting proud of its seat.
- Stop there. Anything behind a panel, above the cabinets or on a roof is the visit — Wolf Repair Los Angeles, (310) 626-4008.
Follow-ups
Could the grease be coming back out of the duct?
It can be, and that is the version worth knowing about. Anything that condensed further up the run comes back down the same way, arriving heavier and darker than fresh residue. Dark drips with an empty cup move attention to the blower and the transition above it.
Is it safe to keep cooking while it drips?
Cook, but wipe the cooktop down first and keep the hood running while you do. Grease that has sat in a warm canopy is the kind that catches, and a drop landing on a lit burner is the one avoidable risk here. Empty the cup rather than learning to live with it.