My restored 20 year old Dacor Gas Range


 
R

Ray J.

TVWBB Member
My old "cheap" 30" gas range finally bit the bullet. I was looking for an inexpensive (under $500) replacement since it is for my basement kitchen. I was not impressed at the quality of the new ranges or lack of features on the less expensive models. So I decided to look at used 30" gas ranges and found a FB marketplace listing for a 20 year old Dacor range for under $300. It had an issue with the oven not keeping temperature and need a good cleaning. I researched the model and found that spare parts are still available so I took a gamble and bought it.

This range was over $4,500 new 20 years ago and weighs 350 lbs. Back then Dacor was a family owned company in California, it was since bought by Samsung. I took the range apart to give it a much needed cleaning and found the cause of the oven heating problem. It was a bad connection on the relay board which I was able to fix by beefing up the circuit board trace by soldering a wire to it. The oven is equipped with a infrared gas broiler, 4 large burners with spark ignition and re-ignition if the flame goes out. It also has an outdated dual timer that I ended up using my Thermadore Timestack instead. I can heat the oven to 350 and the outside is still cool to the touch.

I am pleased with my restored Dacor range, it was definately worth the time spent restoring it. I'm not sure that I would be as pleased if I spent $4,500 for it.

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Those are really nice ranges. Nice find and work. And yeah, even dropping $1200 buys you total garbage (at least in the case of that LG POS) I bought. 5 years later and every day I look at that hunk of garbage I am sick at my stomach for buying something when my back was against the wall. Never again. Either my family should have done without Christmas pastry or I should have rigged up the gas grill(s) and made my wife do them in there until my Bosch could have been fixed.
 
My wife and I host Thanksgiving each year. My wife like to cook enough food to feed the neighborhood and occupies both ovens which leaves me to cook the turkey on my ceramic grill. Definitely no complaints from me as the turkey turns out great cooked over lump coal.
 
I’ve owned 2 DACOR ranges. My first is at my daughters house and is closing in on 25 years old with ZERO issues.
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My current DACOR is 12 years old with no issues.
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Not sure of their quality since they were bought by Samsung which means I’ll not be getting a third one.
I’m currently looking into induction ranges but am in no hurry to get one….
 
The equivalent new Dacor range cost $4,500 (same price as 20 years ago) and is approximately 100 lbs lighter.

What I do not like about the newer gas ranges (including Viking, Wolf and most others) is that they decide which burners are smaller and which ones are larger. The older ranges had the same size burners so you could decide where to place each pan.

Wolf use to have all of the burners as dual burners to allow you to adjust the burner for simmer or full heat, not on the newer units. The newer Dacor only has one dual burner. I rather that they cut costs by eliminating the self clean feature.
 
Ray J. said:
The equivalent new Dacor range cost $4,500 (same price as 20 years ago) and is approximately 100 lbs lighter.

What I do not like about the newer gas ranges (including Viking, Wolf and most others) is that they decide which burners are smaller and which ones are larger. The older ranges had the same size burners so you could decide where to place each pan.

Wolf use to have all of the burners as dual burners to allow you to adjust the burner for simmer or full heat, not on the newer units. The newer Dacor only has one dual burner. I rather that they cut costs by eliminating the self clean feature.
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I spoke to the tech that came out to replace the faulty igniter in our Blomberg oven. He said self-cleaning ovens kill most stoves, even the ones that don't have mother boards up front. I stopped using the self-clean cycle and just use a $5 can of EasyOff.
 
Jay D in Jersey said:
I spoke to the tech that came out to replace the faulty igniter in our Blomberg oven. He said self-cleaning ovens kill most stoves, even the ones that don't have mother boards up front. I stopped using the self-clean cycle and just use a $5 can of EasyOff.
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I used the self cleaning feature on my GE double wall oven once and the inner glass panel exploded into about a thousand pieces. What a mess, at least it wasn't a very difficult repair and I found the replacement panel on eBay for a reasonable price.
 
Jay D in Jersey said:
I spoke to the tech that came out to replace the faulty igniter in our Blomberg oven. He said self-cleaning ovens kill most stoves, even the ones that don't have mother boards up front. I stopped using the self-clean cycle and just use a $5 can of EasyOff.
Click to expand...
My brother use to work for a company that made gas valves for ranges. He would test the valves for various ovens and told me the same. The self-clean cycle gets the oven temps so hot that it distorts the metal. I never used a self-clean cycle, I place foil on the bottom of the oven and use elbow grease for the rest.
 
Ray J. said:
Wolf use to have all of the burners as dual burners to allow you to adjust the burner for simmer or full heat, not on the newer units. The newer Dacor only has one dual burner. I rather that they cut costs by eliminating the self clean feature.
Click to expand...
My Wolf gas cooktop has each burner (6 of them) as dual burners able to go to a lower simmer setting in addition to low to high. It’s about 3 years iold.
 
Mark Silver said:
My Wolf gas cooktop has each burner (6 of them) as dual burners able to go to a lower simmer setting in addition to low to high. It’s about 3 years iold.
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Good reason to keep it, per Wolf's website the new ranges have 3 of the same size burner and 1 smaller one, none of them are dual burner.
 
I was abserving the oven on my Dacor range and noticed that it is a reverse flow exhaust for the oven.
The hot air from the gas combustion goes up a flew in the center of the range (in between the burners).
Air is drawn in from the horizontal vent in (in the back rear) and from the front (at the top of the oven door).
There is an internal blower which sucks air from the inlets and exhaust thru the bottom of the range.

This arrangement is the opposite from my other range but it does a great job of oven temps and circulation within.
 
We have a DCS range in our beach house. DCS when they were made in the US long before Fisher-Paykel bought them. It was there when we bought the place 14 years ago. It has no electronics except perhaps the igniters. All the burners are massive cast iron and all the same size. The only repair It ever needed was when I broke an oven door hinge a few years ago when I laid a new plank vinyl floor. It wasn't easy finding the part but Sears Appliance Parts actually had one...for $100.
I think it's approximately 25 years old now. No self clean of course. It works great. 20181126_081934.jpg
 
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