Zline support is horrific!

5 years ago

I have a range hood that is less than three years old and one of the halogen light bulbs went out. Guess what, you have to order them from Zline and if your hood has halogen lights you need to retrofit it for LED

Wait- there’s more. It costs $30 plus shipping

I finally got Zline to commit to replacing under warranty but it’s been a month and I don’t have it. They will not respond to emails, even when I submit a new instance. No one ever answers the phone they encourage you to call and don’t try chat - I got bumped out every time I tried

And guess what I just got in my email from Zline - a survey on their support.

I wouldn’t recommend Zline to my worst enemy. My next stop is the BBB. If I have to spend hours trying to replace a light bulb I might as well spend a few more warning potential customers of the horrible customer support they can expect.

Featured Answer

Matt G

4 years ago

last modified: 4 years ago

Surprisingly this is the only real thread I can find online about zline range hood leds. My leds have died twice. It doesn't help that they are wired in series, so when one goes out, neither light works. And you have to order both of them!

I took a burned out one apart to see if I could figure out what to replace in it. It's just a simple LED emitter on an aluminum PCB stuck to the heatsink with heat paste. It looks easy enough to replace, but the problem is the voltage. The LED transformers output 6-13v. Using a multimeter, it looks like around 11-12 volts is coming out.

I've found emitters like this that handle 7V - so in series that should be in the voltage range. Will post back if I can get something that works.

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Comments (12)

upyerself
5 years ago
I’m not surprised one of the bulbs burned out after three years, but I am surprised you must convert to an LED. If you can get the old bulb out, can you find one of the same type to install on your own? I’d order a few more for back-up for when it goes out again. I do agree that customer service like that would have me trying to solve this on my own and dissuade me from buying their products again.
PRO
THE FRENCH BARN - Lacanche Canada
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
I agree, if you can get the old bulb out, you should be able to find a replacement at your local hardware store or mom-and-pop appliance parts specialist. There are after all only so many types of bulbs, and I doubt that Zline has a proprietary design.

Online sellers also have a lot of inventory, often for cheap.
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gerdyp
5 years ago
We opened the box to install our new range hood and noticed the lens on the outside mount control panel was extremely crazed to the point of not being able to see the number. I called and got through immediately. Spoke with James and he sent me out a new control panel which was received in a couple days. I was extremely happy with my experience with their customer service.
Maria Brown
Original Author
5 years ago
I finally got a hold of customer support and they confirmed you absolutely cannot buy a replacement off the shelf because of the custom casing https://youtu.be/GDgzXrbszDE as shown on the video. It’s $39.99 plus shipping for a lighting kit plus shipping.
elisabeth biedermann
4 years ago
I am having that exact problem. Zline support or service is not available.
Michael Moscheck
4 years ago
Matt let me know if you succeed. I tried to do this with the older transformer but it didn’t work. This looks like a more standard bulb though.

It’s my mission in life to dissuade anyone from buying zline. No warranty on their parts. $50 to replace bulbs that don’t last a year. And look at these bulbs. Pretty sure they do this on purpose. Non standard parts so you are forced to buy their overpriced parts.
Matt G
4 years ago
So I'm still pursuing an answer - I've ordered a bunch of 7v led bead emitters:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DBZJAUG

I tried all 3 white colors (3000k, 4000k, and 6000k). When paired with an aluminum pcb:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XKTRSP7

My replacement light actually worked in series with a stock light. I preferred the 4000k light, but none of the 3 color temps matched my original zline light so I needed to replace both. I figured I was good! - WRONG

I replaced the good light's pcb with a new 6-7v emitter that I bought, but when I plugged both of them in - only faint light could be seen. Must be too high of voltage LEDs.

Soo I had also ordered the ONLY one of these 3.6V led/pcb combos left in the 3500Kcolor range (only showing red 2.8v for me now) :

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KWGBDRG

This one perfectly matched the color of the stock zline LED, but in tearing the stock light apart to replace with the 7V emitter, I had ruined the original LED. ARGH. So now I'm stuck with an older stock light (without the screw on heatsink that I had laying around - more yellow light) and the 3.6V 3500K bulb until my order of these new bulb/pcb combos arrives:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/122604065816

Warm-White 3000-3500K ⋅ With PCB ⋅ 3W 10pcs

So hopefully they are just using these widely available ~3v led/pcb combos. The 7v were much harder to track down, so I'm glad they don't work. I've seen 5v versions too - so if 2x ~3v leds blow up - I will move on to the 5v. I'm determined to figure this one out.
Matt G
4 years ago
One final update - it seems that the ~3v lights are the way to go. I installed 2x ~3.2-3.6V LEDs yesterday and they have been working good so far. The problem with my ebay lights is the color - they are probably closer to the 3000K color temp, while the stock zline and the demasled I got from amazon are closer to 3500K

New ebay warm white led on left, demasled 3500K from amazon (OOS) on the right

It's not a super huge difference, but it gives off a slightly yellow/green tint to whatever is in the pan. I'll see if I can find some ~3500K ~3V leds, but for now I think it's easily doable to replace your own zline LEDs if you have a preferred color temp. A few screws and some simple soldering and this can be accomplished by almost anyone. I did add more heat sink compound as well - maybe this will keep them lasting longer.
Michael Moscheck
4 years ago
Haha. I got it to work too. Mine are super blue cool light. Let me know if you like the 3500 better because 6000 is a wee bit cold.

Led World 10 PCS 3W White High Power LED Light Emitter 6000-6500K with 20mm Star Base https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00MRNSYAQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_8DSW8WCH983DFBWVKW57
Matt G
4 years ago
And another.. I found some led beads that match the stock whiteness @ 3200k

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B08QVXL6B3/

It's only the LED, so they need to be soldered to an aluminum star PCB, but that shouldn't be too hard.
Guy Cappuccino
3 years ago
I swapped the stock led lights which were too cold for these suggested above https://www.ebay.com/itm/122604065816

The color match is now very close to what I want, but, they flicker when on the bright setting of the two position light switch. When I put it on the dim setting the flickering stops, but it is too dim. I had tried 3V 5W leds. I just bought 3V 10W leds and will try that next but not confident it will make the difference. Any help is appreciated.