Need help buying a new 30" gas range (Bluestar vs Tecnogas)
kdoerner
7 years ago
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kdoerner
7 years agoRelated Discussions
Reliability and Servicing: BlueStar vs Viking 30 inch ranges
Comments (47)Moraflauta: For the Broan MUA systems, have a look at these links: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/appl/msg010822599493.html?6 http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/appl/msg0313214523464.html?40 The second link is titled "Braun" but they meant "Broan." For finding contractors, I'd start with my local government's building department/code enforcers and find out if they've ever inspected any kitchen hood MUA systems -- if so, ask who did the work. Also, I would try calling any local retailers who sell higher-capacity range hoods (if anybody local sells them). Also, there have been discussions here at GW where folks have owned-up to using exterior-venting 400 cfm OTRs with pro-style ranges. Heck, if your stove is against an exterior wall, you could even vent the existing OTR and work with that for a while. Almost any overhead vent-set-up will do a better job than the downdraft and recirculating vents you now have. A 400 CFM hood would be better, even if not as good as the venting could be. We have to work within our budgetary, spatial and architectural constraints, Wekick: Specifically I would love it to go low enough to -hold an 8 qt pot of mashed potatoes in enameled cast iron. Can you do that with your Wolf range? I've done that with induction but very low gas flames seem a little too concentrated to evenly heat the cast iron base on my LC enameled CI when I've got mashed potatoes in them. Of course, the burners will do the stupid melt-chocolate-on-a-paper-plate trick and I haven't needed a double boiler for years even with my previous GE DF range. Holding mashed potatoes on a gas stove-top is the one task for which I've needed a dispersion plate/disk/flame tamer. Todd or any of you folks with a BS or AR have any better luck with the star-shaped open burners on your ranges? Maybe I just don't put enough butter and cream in my mashed potatoes? ;>) This post was edited by JWVideo on Tue, Feb 4, 14 at 16:23...See MoreBluestar 30' Gas RNB v. Wolf 30' Gas R304
Comments (5)Years ago I cooked on a Wolf open burner (converted to LP) and it was fine. Good even heat distribution. Very much like the old restaurant ranges I was use to. This was back in the mid/late 90s so Wolf has likely changed their design since then. Back then they were still the up and coming brand and their ranges had a bit of a utilitarian restaurant look. I love the Bluestar. Best cooking machine you can get for the home. The open star burner is wonderful. Comparing the Wolf from the mid '90s and the BS, BS wins hands down. Nothing really wrong with the Wolf (as long as it's an open burner) and if I never tried the BS, I'd probably be happy with it. Now that I have, there's no going back. With regard to reliability... You'll here horror stories about every brand. Bluestar is no exception. I think BS went through some growning pains about a year or so ago but I think things are getting better. The thing I like about their design is that it's completely accessible. I pop the top and the plumbing, electronics, and burners are all easily reachable. There's no secret panel that you have to use the magic screw driver to open. The reason I say this is that I'm confident if the ignitors or the spark module ever fails (which is the most likely thing to fail since everything else is just plumbing), I'm sure I can buy the parts and replace them myself....See MoreDCS 30' gas range vs BlueStar
Comments (8)Been reading the board for ages, but first post. We did a lot a research on the board and elsewhere as we are just in the completion stages of our kitchen redo. We wanted a 36" all gas range. We were choosing between what was available here. Wolf, Jenn-air, Thermador, Electrolux and DCS for all gas. Loved the open burner Wolf, but this forum persuaded us to stay clear of the Wolf, Jenn-air and Thermador (do search at bottom of page on any, makes interesting reading for hours ;) ). So, we started looking at the DCS. At first we dismissed it as it had what seemed like lighter grates than the others, the burners looked a bit generic sitting there in a sealed one piece pan and the top was stainless instead of black. All our own taste (or lack there of!) issues. We I did a bit more research on them I could find little in the way of bad reports about them (maybe I just missed them, but I really try to research the best I can). So, went back and looked again, purchased and have been using for about a month now. Here are our findings and personnal taste conclusions. The stainless top has been a real boon for us. We've found we like it better as the range it replaced had the black porcelain type top under the burners. Not that we are not clean, but every little spec showed up on the black including dust and lint if you left it for a while unused. Was a bit of a pain really to keep clean as where the grates that had the same coating. The DCS all we've done is wipe with a moist sponge and dry it off to clean the grease spatters etc. The grates are not shiney, but rather a matte cast iron. Might be luck or the way they are designed, but we've found we tend to slop less on them. Probably luck. I've found also that in cleaning I really like the fact that I don't have to change into my workout gear to lift the grates for cleaning. They are substatial and designed for strength (we've had some really large pots/weight on them with no problem sliding around or anything), but not as heavy as on others we looked at that had full length ones. Knob wise they work nice and have good adjustment range with a large scale to get a good gradient of burner level control. I've not paid attention to push in and turn as we have been automatically doing that as that is how our previous range worked. I just went out and double checked for you and they are a push in and turn type knob. What else can I tell you about it.....the burners are sealed. Did not think I would like that, but as it happens, apart from look difference between sealed and the Wolf open type we were looking at I think I prefer the sealed now. Been easy to deal with when the pasta boiled over a bit. Don't know if it is an advantage or not, but the burners are quite a bit closer to the grates than others we looked at. With the size of the burners themselves we've found that, to stop the flame from going up the side of quite a few of our pans, we tend to end up with the flame adjusted in the medium low to low range. We have four burners that are the 17.5K and two at I think 12.5K. Just something to get used to as with our old range we had the burners up on high to med high for everything. The wideness of the caps bring the flame out more and even at that low level it puts out the heat so we've not had any issues with cooking anything. We've found that it just made us a rethink our old habit of settings from the old range and we don't notice any difference in cook time comparable to what we had. Cooks steaks, boils pots and recovers from dropping in cold items well. On the larger pans we have the medium to medium high on which is plenty!!! Have to get the wok out and play with that soon as the full on burner puts out! I've found it really nice that all the burners have a simmer setting. You have the high to low on all and then a bit further after low is simmer which is a seperate part of each burner. Has worked really well. Left quite a few sauces, onions etc. holding on simmer while I'm getting ready for them in another pot without burning them or drying them out. At least that is the way it has worked for me so far. Nice to not have to suffle stuff around to get to a simmer burner. Just turn it down and move on to the next. Each burner has the top part of the burner that is the main burner. Then below that is a different part that lights and runs when you put it on simmer. As with many ranges we looked at that had some sort of really low simmer feature, you can barely see the flame in the daytime or under bright light. That is why I'm glad that DCS put a little light in the marker for temp on each control knob. Can see at a glance if I left a burner on. At first not thrilled with the purple looking colour of this and the fact that it had the light feature at all compared to others we looked at, but now love it! Oven rollers for the racks work fine. Racks have a channel that slides on two wheels that are on each side of the oven. Not as nice as the roller slides that the Electrolux had that we looked at, but we've found that with pans etc. on them they slide out nice and work really well. Husband says the rollers are like how some cabinet drawers slide out. Also pointed out to me, which I can see now we've used them and have them, that easier to clean probably than roller tracks like the electrolux had, if stuff, in the rare event it would, would get down in them. So, overall a big thumbs up for the DCS from us so far. We are really heavy duty cooks so we've used the range daily since we've had it. Like it so far. Do need to read a bit more on the convection to make sure of rack position and that I'm doing things right. Cooked three half sheets of shortbread in the oven, had two pans on one rack and another below it. Looked to me like the area back by the fan was browning faster than the other areas. Will have to check if it is positioning, a design flaw or a temperature setting issue as I put it on at the regular temp I cook it at. Also, need to thermom the oven so I can see where it actually is cooking temp wise. Do this in all we've had, but just not got to it with the other kitchen stuff we've been doing. Manual says it is factory set and not adjustable if I remember correct, but just want to make sure where it is. Seems like every range we've ever had has needed some adjustment. Quite wordy for my first post ever. Guess I've been saving it up! At least, if you can get through my blatherings, I hope it helps with some info you needed and helps you make a decision. Can't provide any info on the Bluestar. Did not find a dealer here for them and only heard of them on this forum. Didn't want to deal with mail order. Our preference on that as read that some have had no issues. We wanted local so we could get for sure service if needed. Right or wrong, we also purchased an extended warranty on ours. Lot of cash for a range so wanted to make sure we were covered. Your choice on that. Cheers...See More30" Wolf GR304 vs 30" BlueStar RCS vs 30" BlueStar RNB
Comments (6)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....See Morekdoerner
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