Dacor Cooktop Nightmare

[Peter White]

We had a Dacor ESG486, their 6 burner "Professional" HAH! cooktop installed in October 2003. The unit had several problems right out of the box. We have propane, and so ordered the unit set up accordingly. While some of the internal components were correct, the burners were the natural gas type. It took a few days to get the correct burners. No big deal. But when we used it, the electronic ignition kept trying to light burners. If we have more than three burners on at once, the unit makes a ticking sound, about three times a second, as it sends sparks to light the burners.

The Dacor service rep has been to our house at least 12 times, the latest just today. Since October 2003, they have replaced multiple parts of the cooktop, and have even replaced the entire cooktop last fall. Yet the problem persists. Dacor once suggested that the wiring in our house was faulty, but when their service rep tested the wiring, it was fine.

So now we have a cooktop that won't shut up which cost us about $2500 not to mention the custom cabinet that it sits on.

We also purchased the matching range hood from Dacor. The showroom didn't have the range hood hooked up, so we didn't get to find out how loud it is until we installed it. Because of the way Dacor controls the fan speed, it makes a loud humming sound whenever you set the speed to anything other than full speed. So, at full speed you get the loud sound of the fan, and when you turn down the fan speed, you get whatever is left of the fan speed and the loud hum. According to Dacor, it's perfectly normal. Now we know why the showroom didn't have the hood connected!

Needless to say, we're pretty well disgusted with Dacor.

Sorry for the duplicate post. I put this in the wrong forum earlier by accident.

 

[GB]

Welcome to the site Peter.

Wow what a pain in the butt. Sounds like you really got a bum deal. I would have gone through the roof if a repairman had to come out that many time. I give you a lot of credit for keeping your cool. I hope they finally figure it all out.

Don't worry about the duplicate post. I removed it for you.

 

[Peter White]

Yeah, I've kept my cool for a while. But I've pretty much run out of cool, :-( which is why I felt the urge to spread the word about this company. They're charging way too much to be selling products that work so poorly.

 

[PA Baker]

Welcome, Peter! Have you checked the lemon law in your state? I know in PA if an item has to be repaired a certain number of times (3 I think) in a certain amount of time, the company has to replace it.

Also check and see if the manufacturer warranty is still in effect. We had a Frigidaire dishwasher installed the last place we lived that kept breaking. After the repair man came out several times trying to fix it he contacted Frigidaire who authorized a replacement.

With the number of problems you've had with that cooktop, I'd think maybe one of these might be an option for you.

 

[Peter White]

They have already replaced the unit. The replacement has exactly the same problem. I could try to get a refund, and go shopping for another cooktop. But I assume that will mean getting the cabinet replaced as well.

And I really like the design of the Dacor. Of all the cooktops we looked at, it has the widest spacing between the burners, front to back. 12" pans can sit on adjacent front to back burners with the pans centered on the burners. Viking and several others have about 11" between the burners.

 

[Raine]

I'm wondering if the hood system might be designed more like a commerical hood, than the normal homeowner models. Maybe not quite as load as a restaurant, but rather nosiey.

 

[Michael in FtW]

I don't know about Dacor - but I was going to buy my son a professional stovetop when he got married, bought an old house, and started to remodel his kitchen ... and discovered a couple of things. It wouldn't work because of residential gas pressure and the diameter of residential gas lines. Residential (home) gas lines are not sufficient for "commercial" equipment.

Most homes have 1/2-inch gas lines - most commercial equipment requires a minimum of 3/4-1-inch. The way the electronic ignitors are made in some stoves .... if you don't have sufficient gas pressure & flow - you might have a flame but the ignitor isn't going to recognize it because it's not calibrated to the lower gas flow.

Since you don't have a problem with 2-3 burners on .... it sounds like a gas flow/pressure and calibration problem to me.

I'm certainly no expert - but it's something to explore.

As for the noise the hood makes .... it wouldn't sound the same in a showroom as it does in your home anyway - due to installation and accoustics.

 

[Yakuta]

Hi Peter I feel your pain. I have been through the same issue with Dacor although not with the cooktop but with their microwave unit which ran around 800 dollars.

I loved the sleek LCD panel design and I bought it. First the door handle on it broke off. It had to be replaced. The same thing happened again. Then the microwave started to make funky noises and then one day stopped warming.

The folks from the appliance store we bought it (it is a full service place) came and tried to fix it but in no vail. I got a new one from Dacor that arrived months after the one that blew away had been taken away.

Thank God they fixed all of this just in time of my move to my new house. It hurts when you buy something that you consider high end and then are stuck with not one but multiple issues. Even with the lemon policies sometimes it's just not worth the hassle to keep switching out appliances.