Well Tim, It's NEVER safe to assume! After I had posted here yesterday, I looked outside, and what do you think I saw? YEP! Another bull HOSP checking out my Titmouse box. YIKES!! I guess that female went off and brought another male here to nest! Well, I just went on out and hung my nice trap box in its place, complete with a piece of dried grass hanging from the hole! Didn't get him yesterday, but maybe I will today. I do have Sparrow Spookers and use them religiously once my Blues have laid the first egg. I did place them onto boxes early this year trying to deter this determined pair of HOSP's, and I watched them carry in their nesting materials with the Spooker right on the box. Didn't seem to bother them a bit. ~~Angie

Didn't get a goood shot of today, Mr. HOSP lives another day. They did not do any further nest building (it's been cold for 2 days),they dont eat here so they were here for just a short while. I decided to put some white bread out for them but they have not been back today. The Blues were gone the last 2 days while it snowed but they are back and shopping again. I still have a few safe days to get it done. UUUUGGGG Thanks Linda, nice to see ya! Hope you and hubby are both well!

I tend to approach these things as a cook and while there might be some features or something is more powerful, not all are relevant to every cook but yet some things might mean everything to a particular cook. That is why it is impossible to line them up. Some things to consider with these four. Size of the oven- for most ovens you cannot look at cubic feet but have to look at the rack size for how much space you have and in the case of capital and BS they both will hold a full size sheet pan. I don't use full size pans but it is nice that you could put two half sheets side to side. On the other hand some people don't want to heat as big of an oven thinking it wasteful so might like it smaller. Also for your oven consider something that is seemingly as minor as lighting. I had a Dacor oven (not that one) that the lighting was placed so low, you could not see what you were cooking. broiler- consider whether you want the infrared broiler which may be hotter but also could be much smaller vs a conventional broiler that would cover more width of the oven. I tend to use mine to brown trays of appetizers and tend to grill steaks outside so need the width. I'm have never not had mine be hot enough but look as the broiler so you know what you are getting. Look at the top to see which is easier to clean. Are any stainless vs black enamel? What are the grates? The simmer is an interesting thing. I am curious what the stacked burners is on the Capital range. I wonder if there are photos that show the difference in the flame in the simmer and the regular burner. It is not clear in the manual. In any case if you are evaluating simmer, one of the most important things to know is the rating in BTUs. The only one that I can readily see online is the Powersimmer burner on the Dacor range is rated 800 BTUs. Names are just marketing without supporting information. Some give a rating in temperature which is meaningless as there are so many variables. "BS has open burners which are more efficient at getting heat to a pan because of a more vertical flame and a star pattern" The term open is tossed around so much to mean many different things. I am going to be more specific and call this an uncapped vs capped burner as I think that is what you are referring to. You cannot assume that one is more efficient than another. Again there are many variables. An uncapped burner may have a more upright flame on the highest heat but the amount of flare on a sealed burner depends on how it is engineered. If someone uses smaller pans, they might want to keep the flame more to the middle but if you use bigger pans, you would tend to need more heat as they get bigger and the bigger spread of flame is a more even heat to those pans. My range has dual stacked burners so not as much flare as some. I noticed 5 star has a huge flare on high. It would be good to see any range in action but sadly not always possible. Sometimes you can see them on YouTube. The star burner is to disperse the burners over a greater area to provide a more even heat to a pan IF the pan is sized to that burner. If you are using a big frying pan the heat is all to the middle. This is why you have to consider your cookware in the equation. The thermo properties can hide a multitude of shortcomings. Thick aluminum or copper will even everything out. I do like to cook with cast iron sometimes so the star is good for that if sized right.

What is a "local safety officer"? What do you mean "a bunch of back and forth" with your "local safety officer and Wolf"? What prompted you to use your CO meter to test the levels? They are employed by our BC safety Authority who are the regulators for all regulated work, gas and electrical and such. As a licensed gas fitter I hold my ticket through them and they are the final say when it comes to appliance safety. Permits and approvals for equipment go through them. I chatted at length with him about the stove and he did agree we can’t do anything because it meets ANSI standards being below 800ppm, but he did say he wouldn’t have it in his house. His advice to me was if Wolf won’t do anything to then adjust the burner input by under firing the appliance to bring the CO back inline. I went to Wolf with this information and they said ‘based on your requirements I don’t think Wolf products will be right for you, would you consider a buy back’. Checking CO is very common here in Canada especially when commissioning an appliance. I didn’t mention the CO alarm going off because it never went off, however it did show peak levels in the 15-19ppm range after cooking for a short period of time. Enough to make me concerned with a pregnant wife and 2 yr old. This is what will happen if you in a room where the CO levels are 800 ppm. The ANSI standards are referring to the CO levels in the air coming out of the range vent. 800 ppm air coming out of the vent does not translate to a room concentration of 800 ppm. Especially if you have your ventilation on. Now, if you were getting 250-300 ppm where the cook was standing, that indicates a concentration of way more than 800 ppm out of the vent, and thus a violation of ANSI standards. Either way, those readings were way too high and Wolf's response was poor. Yes, I agree, somewhat. The stove should never be operating at the ANSI levels, your house would build up to a dangerous level of CO over time ie. When cooking a turkey for hours. Our utility will actually shut down any gas range over 540ppm during normal operation. Also they shutdown any other appliance if its over 250ppm while operating. I agree we need ANSI standards but as new homes get built tighter and with less makeup air having a cooking appliance pumping 800ppm at the vent/flue is insane. Consider this regulation was put in place in 1926, buildings have changed considerably since then. So, what happened when you tried adjusting it? Was 250-300 ppm the lowest it would go? That would surprise me, I have adjusted several gas ranges and have usually been able to get them down to 30-40 ppm from as high as 500 ppm. I knew this question would pop up, but yes I went through the full range of what is reasonable on a brand new appliance. Below is what I went through, to try and reduce the CO: Tested inlet pressure, adjusted within 1”wc of manifold pressure. ‘Wolf recommends having inlet pressure within 1” for proper operation’ – no change Checked flip top regulator and it was set to natural gas Checked manifold pressure on stove it was at 5”wc Verified orifice was correct as per spec sheet supplied by Wolf Adjusted air shutter, no change was actually higher and this was the lowest I was able to get the stove to run at CO tests were done after 10-15 minutes of operation and the burners were warm Clocked meter to verify burner input is correct Verified no blockage in burner tube Verified all secondary air ports were free and clear House is still very drafty, so not a lack of air within the house The only thing I never did was under fire it, as I didn't want to go down that road on a brand new piece of equipment. Wolf blew me away with their service and willingness to make a customer happy. From a cooking standpoint however, it will be Bluestar for us.