Wednesday, November 24, 2004

F1:E2 means we're ERC-ed

Beep! Beep! Beep!

As soon as I took the cornbread out, our oven beeped at me, shut off and displayed the message F1:E2. Eventually it calmed down and the rest of the controls became accessible again.

Our KitchenAid electric stove is the Chevy Vega of cooking appliances. Epinions reviewers have targeted this model as a classic lemon, though it can't quite match the KitchenAid electric model (also memorialized on Epinons) that activated its oven door lock while the owners were making a roast for a dinner party. Three days and multiple repairmen later, the door was still locked and the kitchen redolent of rotting meat--apparently KitchenAid has the door screws on the inside of the door, where no one could get at them.

But back to our KitchenAid...thus far, the occasional F1:E2 problem has not prevented me from cooking. But it hit with a vengeance tonight while I was making cornbread for stuffing. With Thanksgiving tomorrow, I started to panic. While a couple error messages are mentioned in the KitchenAid manual, this is not one of them. (But, of course). Thanks to Google, I was able to get the complete list of KitchenAid error messages from doityourself.com. There I learned that E1:F2 means that the ERC needs to be replaced.

The ERC?!?#?

According to the Samurai Applicance Repairman at fixitnow.com, the ERC is the electronic range control. He explains that when an ERC fails, the appliance is still in fine working order--just the fancy control system is fried. And you'll pay big bucks--not to fix the oven, but to fix the shoddy electonics system that controls it. On a stove not even three years old.

Let's just say I've printed out a recipe for roasting a turducken on an outside gas grill. And one thing I won't be giving thanks for tomorrow is the KitchenAid company.

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:35 PM

    Thanks so much for the information. I called K-Aid about 15 times in the last 3 years for many issue, thank goodness I got an extended warranty with this "Vega". They talked to me like I was from another planet because they say this error message doesn't exist.
    Hmmmmm, better get your sh** together on product knowledge people!
    Well thanks again, I will go on with my lemon pie, eeerrrr, I mean apple pie cooking tonight, hopefully it'll be cooked by next week! You have confirmed that I'm not as crazy as the K-aid techs think I am.

    Peace

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  2. Anonymous6:38 PM

    I just want to thank you for taking the time to find the information the rest of us needed when our ovens flash F1:E2. I thought it was some sort of warning from another universe lol. After making a tin foil hat (just kidding) I typed the code into a search and it brought up your blog. Now I can rest assured knowing it's simply a fried fancy control system; who needs those anyway? Thanks!

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  3. Isn't it amazing how these disasters always occur just a few days before Thanksgiving? Some sort of master timer is at work.

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  4. Anonymous5:32 AM

    Thank you for the link to the codes. My repair guy from Sears (where I bought the KitchenAid about 10 years ago) told me that "we" (who pay) are not supposed to know the codes.

    This is my second or third ERC (fried board). Other things have gone over the years. My service plan expires in September 2013. The day I do not renew that is the day I sell this for a basic model that costs less to buy than the service plan on this one.

    Any tiny drop of water anywhere causes it to go nuts. Imagine cooking without ever spilling a drop of water. the computer and controls are all right in the line of fire (literally, mine is a gas/propane range top model with gas/propane oven underneath).

    In the debate at time of purchase, my choice was a cheap model with pilot lights or starter, no digital controls or timers or computers. This time I will win that argument. Imagine a stove that always works, even when it works (no computer).

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  5. I was delighted the day the county finally ran gas to my house and I installed an absolutely NON-DIGITAL Wolf stove. Worth every penny I paid for it. The "simmer" on the stovetop tempers chocolate for truffles and the lowest setting in the oven will dry fruit over night on mesh drying trays.

    KitchenAid. Argh.

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