nuccia

if you would care to give me a call at the store i will be more than happy to help you answer your questions.

Bluestar have just launched a new service that is to deal with these exact issues i have posted on another thread but i guess it can not do any harm to post on your thread also.

While the new info below will not help you it will help others in future.

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Bluestar has just launched a new Customer Service Program. While this is not directly related to the above thread I do believe it will help customers with the niggley little problems after installation.

In essence this is how it will work.

1) You (the customer) have the range installed and leveled by your installer.
2) Your installer carries out the checklist in the back of the manual.
3) You send the completed checklist to Bluestar within 10 days of installation, also call Bluestar to arrange a FREE installation inspection.
4) Bluestar will send an Approved service guy to your home within 10 days, he will do the following.

A)Make sure the Burners are calibrated correctly for air / gas mixture.

B)Check to make sure the oven is calibrated correctly and that the air / gas mixture is correct.

C)Check the griddle or Charbroiler if you have one.

D)Check the Broiler.

E)Check lights and convection fan.

5) He will sign off to say your appliance is working absolutely spot on.
6) Once the service guy returns his paperwork to Bluestar YOUR warranty will be extended to 2 years parts and labor.

This Program will apply to all RNB 24â 30â 36â 48â and 60â ranges and Cooktops of the same sizes ONLY â¦â¦â¦..the RCS ranges will not be included.

I have loaded my site with similar info.

We have all read about or experienced the initial problems some people have had with incorrect installation. Bluestar is trying to make sure that a small problem does not grow into an unnecessary inconvenience. As is now very evident from my experience with the new regime in the service department at Bluestar, things are on the up and up.

This is a major step for Bluestar and a huge benefit for Bluestar customers not only from an installation point of view but also what will now be a TWO YEAR PARTS AND LABOUR WARRANTY.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bluestar white glove

nuccia- your broiler should take less than 3 minutes to heat up with the door closed. If you want it to continue to get hotter and hotter, you can open the door a bit to trick the thermostat. I don't think yours is working right.
It's still under warranty, so get someone out there to adjust your simmer and check your broiler.

On the griddle, my wife turns up the heat way high until it smokes, then turns it down and waits for the temp to equalize. This is on our Viking. Is this the process you are using?

When I have looked under our griddle, it has only a single long burner which I beleive is similar to BS. As such, there is no way it is going to have even heat initially. There must be time for the cast iron surface to even out.

We are planning on getting BS for our vacation house remodel. So your issue there is of interest to us. Please try out the above proceedure to see if it works.

Trevor, that is a superb program. Surely puts some of my fears aside regarding getting BS.

Trevor: I'll call you Weds if you don't mind.

Amirm: The BlueStar manual says to warm the griddle at a lower temperature and turn it up when we actually need it. This is what I've been doing, but my natural instinct is your wife's method.

Alexr: The broiler problem may be because we haven't used it enough to get a feel for how it works. I think we have had the food too far away from the tiles.

Can anyone tell me approximately how far below the broiler should a 1 inch steak be if I want to cook it medium rare?

Can any BlueStar owners tell me if their griddles heat more evenly than mine?

Thanks

That would be the top rack, approx. 1 inch from broiler. If grease splatters, it just burns off.

I have had the same issues with my broiler and have been told, after two service calls, that it's fine. I'm very disappointed in it. No matter how carefully I place the food, it is burnt to a crisp in the back (in under two minutes; I've timed it) and ice cold in the front. I had used a Bluestar broiler prior to purchase--it was awesome and very easy to use; why I bought the range, in lieu or rangetop, actually--and can only conclude they've changed the design.

-Susan W.

Admittedly I had a crappy econo range before with a flame broiler. The IR broiler isn't physically huge, so if your food is bigger than the broiler, you have to move it around. I've been absolutely astonished at how it can brown food without burning it. The cheese on top of a 12" frying pan, for example, is all bubbly-brown-goodness, whereas before the edges were charcoal at about the same time as the cheese got brown.

I wish the Bluestar installation service was in effect when I bought mine. Seems like someone is really thinking about how to satisfy customers. I wish other businesses would do the same. Reminds me of the car dealer that I drove to on a Sunday to test drive and buy a car and was told that they didn't do test drives on Sundays (!). Bought elsewhere. Rant off.

I swore I wouldn't post on this forum again. Damn. This post doesn't count.

Hello again, and thank you all for following up.

alexr, susan and mark: The broiler problem may actually be our fault. We had been placing our steaks too far, perhaps 4-5 inches from the broiler. Also, I can see if you need it to be that close, it is probably critical that the area of your food isn't larger than the broiler size, which would account for any uneven broiling. Another thing that throws me off is that we are supposed to keep the door closed when grilling--if the food is that close, don't you have to check it more frequently to make sure nothing chars? I haven't had a chance to test it, but will try to do so this weekend. I may be back Monday!

alexr, I just went over some notes from a posting I made in February, and you told me how to adjust the burners to get a lower flame. I haven't been able to do that because I couldn't get the knob off and I was afraid I might damage it if I tried to pry it off. I just tried pulling off ALL the knobs and was successful with 2 so far. I will be more persistent with the rest.

Susan, I read your post re your BS problems, and I feel bad for you, but at least you finally got them to admit there is a problem. My case, so far, is "user error" until I can determine I'm NOT doing something wrong.

I think most of these issues didn't have to become issues if BlueStar invested in a technical writer to write a proper instruction manual! Does anybody know if there is any third
party documentation?

Not to beg the question, but does anyone have problems with uneven grilling in the 12 inch grill, or do yours work well?

You should try getting one of those rubber jar opener pads to get a better grip on the knobs.

You don't have to have the door closed when broiling. You can leave it open a crack, or keep it closed and open it to check on what's broiling. If the door stays open, the broiler will keep 'running'(the burner stays on). If the door is closed, the broiler with 'cycle' on and off (like the oven) because it is connected to a thermostat.

Some things are broiled from 3" or so away. One inch steaks are usually set pretty close to get seared, and cook 2-3 minutes per side. This works for me anyway.. maybe a real cook like cpovey will chime in.

I'm not a real cook like cpovey, but personally I find steak is done best under/over as high heat as possible for a quick sear. Then, if needed, moved to a cooler part of the grill or oven to get the center to the desired doneness. A bit of a rest between the two steps seems helpful, too.

This leads to a nice char on the outside and an even doneness throughout the entire inside, as opposed to a gradual transition through various layers of overdoneness as you approach the perfect center.

So yeah, I'd put that steak as close to the broiler as possible, as Alexr said.

Nuccia, I'm curious-- did you ever get your griddle to work satisfactorily?

RE: pulling the knobs off - if you haven't tried the double sided carpet tape trick suggested here in a post a few years back, it really is effective. Pick up a small roll (you can surely use it around the house for random fixit tasks). Cut off a three inch piece, stick it to both sides of the knob, remove the backing and you'll have a great hold on it and should be able to pull it right off. The tape should peel easily off.