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meganmca_gw

DCS Range trouble--any hints?

meganmca
10 years ago

We just got a DCS range...if it's possible to return it, I need to do it tomorrow (7 days); naturally that's a 20% restock fee plus I'm sure we pay un-installers & plumbers to disconnect & everything, so out around $1000+ for this experiment. Not a good thing.

Problems we're having:
The fan that pulls air out of the oven is really loud--much much louder than we'd expected. We can hear it two rooms away with the door closed. Is this right? It comes on either when the oven has been turned off OR when it's been running for a bit--though I don't understand why it wants to remove air from the oven I want to be hot. The fan is so strong it can be felt on the other side of the 54" aisle. It's got to be cooling down pots on the stove to have that much air blowing around.

The other problem we see is with the simmer burners. One burner won't stay on simmer--it turns itself on and off--unless one of the other burners is on. The oven kicking on (as it does when running) turns the simmer burner off momentarily as well.

Is this all common/normal, or do we have a lemon, or what? We bought the range partly on recommendations we read here, didn't see anything like this, alas...DCS 30" all gas, no self-clean oven.

Thanks!

Megan

This post was edited by meganmca on Mon, Oct 21, 13 at 19:52

Comments (17)

  • weissman
    10 years ago

    There are two fans - the convection fan and the cooling fan. If you're not running it in convection mode, no fan should come on initially. The cooling fan only come on when the oven gets too hot and will stay on for a while after you turn the oven off. You might need a service call.

  • meganmca
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    It's the cooling fan that's coming on (convection fan seems to be fine, and I can certainly tell the difference)--but, what's the definition of "too hot"? I'd be OK if it were just after we turn the oven off, but it seems to come on after about 20 min of cooking & stay on for, oh, an hour + after we turn it off--roasting a chicken at 350ish. But I can't tell from the manual if that's right or not...or from web searching!

  • weissman
    10 years ago

    I have a DCS - yes the cooling fan comes on while the oven is still running and continues after the oven shuts - yours may well be normal and you're just unhappy with the noise.

  • meganmca
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Wish I could tell how loud is normal, that's for sure...how loud would you say yours is? --thanks for the answers, both of you!

  • weissman
    10 years ago

    It's a little louder than I would have expected, but not too loud for me - but loudness is definitely subjective.

    This post was edited by weissman on Mon, Oct 21, 13 at 22:53

  • eandhl
    10 years ago

    I hate noise! I have an all gas DCS and I can tell you I barely hear the fans. I do all cookies with the convection fan running. The simmer rings are one of the stars of DCS. Clearly your range needs to be seen by a repair service or exchanged for a properly working range at no cost to you.

  • meganmca
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks!! OK, service-or-return/exchange, then. We'll call the appliance store today & see what happens (they're the repair people too).

    Eandhl--good, you've confirmed that we're possibly not the pickiest people ever. I mean, fan noise is one thing, but this is loud enough you need to turn the TV up in the LR (not open concept)...and we think we're actually watching the fan blow out the simmer burners since they seem to work fine w/o fan (fan on, oven off, so not drawing gas)

    weissman--you've got it in one, loudness is subjective so worries me doubly. So easy for repair people to say "no, that's normal". Been that road with a microwave. It broke. They repaired it. It made, oh, 5x the noise as before the repair. But this was "OK", "normal"...and then out of warranty. Actually, would this question work? How much louder is it then the convection fan for you?

  • weissman
    10 years ago

    It is louder than the convection fan. On the other hand eandhl is right that the simmer burners should work properly.

    By the way, I originally had a problem that when I had the oven on, the rear burners sometimes wouldn't light - they sent me a replacement rear vent that directed the air flow differently which solved the problem - but this was about 10 years ago and the newer ranges shipped with the better vent. If I were you, I'd go for a service call - it's a good range.

  • meganmca
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks--Service people will come next week--that's the earliest we can have a DCS specialist, which is certainly what we want. We'll see what they can do/not do. I hate waiting that long, but at least we have a stove & oven, right?

  • eandhl
    10 years ago

    I really meant it when I said I hate noise. For a number of years I had a JennAir with convection. I used it once and the fan noise was loud, never again. Also using the grill/griddle the vent automatically came on and it was noisy so I didn't use them. I am not even aware if a fan comes on in the oven of my DCS.

  • meganmca
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Update: Apparently there's a known problem with the island trim on my range. They're ordering the part & will install in 9 days...me, I'm hoping this will help with the noise issue too. Repair guy says probably not, but hey, I know fan noise is often more about the way the air moves than the fan itself, so I can hope.

    Though neither the service guy nor I am clear on why I have island trim without an island. Stove was installed against a wall in the store, so I never questioned. I don't care one way or another that I know of--anything here I'm missing?

    We're waiting on the "simmer burners going out" issue until we solve the fan one, because it might all be caused by the airflow being wrong. At least the repairman agrees--first words out of his mouth when fan went on were "that's really weird". And he's smart enough that the next thing he did was call the manufacturer!

    Thank you all for your help--hearing that it was a real issue from you guys really helped us calmly wait the week for diagnosis!

  • Colin Dingler
    7 years ago

    Hi, I just found this thread because I purchased a Dcs 30" range and also am surprised by the function of the cooling (not convection) fan. I mentioned that someone here mentioned that there is a known issue with the island trim. Could anybody provide more info about that?



  • d_megow
    7 years ago

    We had a DCS wall oven in our last house. It worked well. Until we ran the self clean feature. But the repair was done in about 2 weeks and everything was fine. We then moved and in the 3 years it took to sell our house the heating element died All service personnel had since quit working on DCS so we had to take it to the dealers service dept. 1 1/2 hours away. When we got there the guys who unloaded the oven joked "Do you know what DCS stands for? Dude call service!" We have since sold the house. Experience has told me make sure you have reputable dependable service guys close to you for whatever you buy. All in all I really liked my DCS!

  • friedajune
    7 years ago

    I have yet to see a range with a cooling fan that is not loud, regardless of brand, it's not isolated to DCS. The fan has to cool the range's electronics when the oven is on. Older ranges didn't have electronics so no fan was needed. There are a couple ranges out there that do not have electronics - Bluestar, Capital Culinarian, American Range, and at a lower cost point, NXR. But then you won't have some of the gadgetry that you might like.

  • Meganmca
    7 years ago

    Hi Colin, what would you like to know? It was a problem back-then, kinda doubt it is on a new range, I'd expect them to have simply fixed it. They came out, they installed a different island-trim bit, and happily, the airflow stopped being straight across our burners, nearly blowing them out. Sound of the cooling fan, alas, is still pretty loud--I think it did get quieter after the fix--but got used to it somewhat, I guess. I can now time a pan of brownies so it doesn't go off :}

  • Troy Brandt
    7 years ago

    We've had our 36" DCS gas range for a bit over a year. The cooling fan is awful. I would strongly recommend a thorough review before purchasing. This is the third medium-upper end range we've owned, and the DCS is far worse than the GE and Kitchen Aid models we owned previously. The DCS dish drawer washer is similarly noisy and the unit is also not recommended. We'd hoped to find a solid middle-upper level line of appliances, DCS isn't the one.