How To Get Smoke Out Of The House After Burning Food

Nick Durante
by Nick Durante

Nearly every homeowner has burnt food at one time or another, and it’s almost unavoidable. It can be a stressful situation when it happens, and long after when the smell lingers. Many homeowners struggle with how to get smoke out of their houses after burning food.

Open a window and turn on as many fans as possible to get smoke out of your house after burning food. Place your fans in a spot where they can push the smoke out of your window so it doesn’t linger. Run an air purifier and clean the surfaces in your kitchen to get rid of the burning food smell.

You can use air fresheners to mitigate the burnt food odor in the meantime while you eliminate the smoke. Clean your oven or smoke after you burn food so that the burnt smell doesn’t reappear the next time that you cook. Follow along as we explore how to get smoke out of your house after burning food.

How Do You get Smoke out of House After Cooking?

You can get smoke out of your house by simply opening windows or using an air purifier. However, it isn’t as easy as it sounds and it depends on several factors. Smoke will be harder to remove if it has had more time to linger and spread throughout your house.

Ideally, you should take action right away when you discover the smoke or burning food smell. That isn’t always possible if you leave your kitchen for a few moments while something is in the oven. Let’s take a look at the best ways to get smoke out of your house after burning food.

Open a Window

Your first instinct should be to open at least one window when you burn food. Circulate as much fresh air into your house as possible after burning food to get the smoke out. The more windows you open, the easier it will be to replace the foul odor with fresh air in your house.

This will give you enough time to clean your kitchen and focus on getting to the source of the problem. Otherwise, the smoke and burning food smell will continue to permeate throughout your house. It’s also important to open the window so that your smoke detector doesn’t get triggered.

Run Your Fans

Run as many fans as possible when there is smoke in your house after burning food. Ceiling fans, oscillating fans, and box fans can all push the smoke out of your house and thin it out. Open a window and try to direct the fans towards them.

This will help steer the smoke out of your house quickly so that you can address the odor. It’s important to get the smoke out of your house quickly after burning food. The longer that smoke lingers, the more you have to worry about soot, stains, and lingering odors.

Air Purifier

Air purifiers can help cycle and filter the foul air out of your home. Place the air purifier in your kitchen or the room that smells the most like burnt food. Make sure that you choose an air purifier that has a HEPA filter because those are the best at removing smoke particles.

Smoke is tricky to remove because of the chemicals and particles that it contains. HEPA filters can help collect these particles and remove them from the air to reduce the odor. Air purifiers aren’t a magical cure to a burnt food smell, however.

Try to open as many windows as you can for at least 5-15 minutes before you run your air purifier. It will be easier for your air purifier to remove impurities from the air in your house.

Clean the Surfaces

Smoke can easily cling to the surfaces in your house after burning food. This is especially true if you have cloth placemats, drapes, rugs, and curtains in and around your kitchen. Smoke clings to fabric and you may even need to run it through your washing machine.

Your countertops can retain the smell of burning food as well and you’ll need to wipe them up. Use a cleaning product like Dr. Bronner’s or Method All Purpose Cleaner to clean your counters. Smoke can leave behind a sooty residue on your countertops that is hard to clean with water alone.

Air Fresheners

Air fresheners aren’t a permanent solution, but they will help mask the smell of burnt food. It can take anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks for the smell of burning food to dissipate. During that time, you will want to replace the foul burnt odor with one that is more pleasant.

That is where air fresheners come into play, and they are an invaluable resource when you burn food. Whether you use a plug-in or a spray, the air freshener will make it more tolerable to be in your house until the smell clears out. You will need to use air fresheners in conjunction with the other methods in this guide.

Air fresheners won’t work as well as intended if you don’t air out your home and clean the surfaces. You won’t need to keep using air fresheners for long if you clean the surfaces and air out your kitchen.

Clean Your Oven or Stove

Your kitchen and house will continue to smell like burning food if you don’t clean your oven or stove. The smell will recirculate through the air each time that you cook food if the oven or stove is still dirty. Burnt food can fall to the bottom of your oven where it will burn once again the next time you use it.

Wait until your oven or stove cools down before you clean it to avoid injury. It can be hard to reach some spots of an oven or stove, but try the best that you can. Oven cleaners such as Easy-Off make it much easier to reach tough spots and get the burnt food odor out of your house.

Clean Your AC Ducts

Depending on the severity of the smoke, you may need to hire an HVAC professional to clean your AC ducts. Smoke can settle in your AC ducts and recirculate throughout your house the next time that your AC turns on. It costs at least $300 to clean your AC ducts, on average, but it’s worth the cost if the problem persists.

You will continue to smell burning food each time that your AC turns on in extreme cases. This is more common in cases where you cannot open a window quickly enough, or if the smoke is too dense. You will need to clean your AC ducts if you have a serious kitchen fire because the smoke is more likely to cause damage and leave soot behind.

Summing it Up

The best way to get smoke out of your house after burning food is to open the windows. Point fans near your windows to help steer the smoke outside. Clean your stove or oven after they cool down to help get rid of the burnt food odor for the next time that you cook.

Air purifiers can help remove smoke particles from your house, but only if they have a HEPA filter. They aren’t as effective if you don’t open windows as well, however. Use air freshener sprays and plug-ins to remove the smell of burning food from your house.

Clean your countertops, drapes, curtains, and rugs to get the smokey smell out of your house. Smoke lingers longer if it’s had enough time to settle on the surfaces in your home.

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Nick Durante
Nick Durante

Nick Durante is a professional writer with a primary focus on home improvement. When he is not writing about home improvement or taking on projects around the house, he likes to read and create art. He is always looking towards the newest trends in home improvement.

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