1) Yes, 36" ovens take longer to preheat. I have seen reports of 30 to 40 minutes for stable heat.

2) What type of thermometer are you using? Dial or bulb? New or old? Have you tried another thermometer? Did the time differ?

3) Is this your first gas range? Are you sure what you're smelling is gas, and not just the byproduct of combustion? Some people are very sensitive to that smell...

4) Did you properly burn-in your oven after installation? If you didn't, you may be smelling the various manufacturing oils burning off, in addition to the "painted" underside of the oven floor burning off. It takes quite a while before all of this burns away...

It sounds like something is wrong with your oven - it shouldn't take that long to preheat and it shouldn't smell funny. Is this a new range - is it still under warranty - get a different service person out there.

Never ignore the smell of gas! It has an odor for a purpose: to warn the user there's a problem. Even if you didn't properly burn off the oven when you first got it, after several runs it shouldn't smell anymore. Have the service people come back and go over the whole thing to find the possible gas leak before you blow yourselves up or are asphixiated by the carbon monoxide that could very well be escaping into your house. SAFETY FIRST!!!

I will amplify what mimsic says: Never ignore the smell of gas! It has an odor for a purpose: to warn the user there's a problem. Both natural gas and propane are odorless. Chemicals are added to give a warning smell.

You may have a leak or partial clog in the line running to the oven or in hte burner tube itself inside the range. This would account for the smell and the lack of heat (not enough gas getting to the oven burner).

If in doubt, call the as or propane company. A very slight whiff right after ignition is one thing, but anything more than that is a problem. They are better qualified and equipped to detect gas leaks than appliance repair people.

However, she is wrong about carbon monoxide: CO is a product of incomplete combestion, it is not in the gas lines, nor normally made by any flame burning in air. However, the NG or LP can kill you just as fast, just by a different, more dramatic method.

If the apliance isn't burning fuel properly it can produce CO. For instance, if there is any orange in the flame it could be an indicator of CO being produced (check the Carbon Monoxide Kills website). Safety dictates: Do not use the range until it has been completely checked and declared safe!

Our oven has no odor and it does take about 45 minutes to heat to 350-375. The light goes off (indicating preheat is complete) at about 25 minutes, but a temp check shows it's only at about 300 at that point. I don't use the oven much for that and other issues (the front and knobs get REALLY hot), so it's not a huge deal (I also have double electric ovens), but it would be truly annoying if this was my only oven.

I actually got the Bluestar range, instead of the rangetop, because I had been so impresesd with the broiler. Unfortunately, in actual use, my broiler, at least, cooks VERY unevenly (charred on one side--left/right--before the other side is even hot--seriously) no matter how I manipulate the pan. It's a real bummer and makes me wish I'd stuck to my original game plan of a gas rangetop and induction side burner(s), which would probably have been way more useful than the other, never-used oven.

-Susan W.

Marty,

I am sorry to hear about your problem but...yes....those big 36 inch ovens take forever to heat properly. Hell, even my 30 inch Wolf takes 40 minutes to hit 400 and equalize. I helped a friend redo her kitchen with a double Gaggenau oven. It took about 10 minutes to hit 400. My jaw almost hit the ground. Technology has changed and I think its time to move away from gas cooking. I see no benefits.

NYMarty, are you out there? Would like to hear the verdict on your gas problem. ;-)

I've been enjoying this thread and finding it very informative since I thought I was all set to replace my 4year old 30 inch Kenmore Elite AG range with a 36 inch BlueStar. (Nothing wrong with the Kenmore; I thought I'd like to upgrade during the kitchen remodel). I do bake quite a bit and would be upset to spend $4,000+ and find the oven takes too long to heat or heats unevenly (even with the convection?). If you are unhappy with this range oven, are there suggestions for another range? My kitchen is too small to have separate wall ovens. Thanks for your help.

saskiasmom - it sounds like nymarty has a problem with his range - I wouldn't rule out Bluestar based on one data point. You should read the other Bluestar threads - I think most owners are overwhelming pleased with the ovens on the Bluestar.

Thanks for all of the great responses.

I've tried using both a mercury thermometer and a dial-type and both had the same results -- just takes a long time to get hot. As to the gassy smell, it's still happening so we're going to have the company that serviced it recently come back again to check it. According to the service guy, everything was working fine. He replaced the oven igniter but other than that it's good.

Don't get me wrong -- I LOVE our BlueStar range but right now it's only for the cooktop part, which I wouldn't trade for anything out there. I'm just having oven problems.

I'm still curious about the time it takes for most people to get to 350 or even 450 with a gas oven. Please post your times the next time you use the oven. Some posters lead me to believe that the oven pre-heat may just be what it is for big gas ovens.

Thanks...

Marty

It distresses me to imagine you are lighting any flame anywhere near a possible gas leak. if you smell gas you must get someone in ASAP to be sure there is no gas leaking into your home. There was a tragic accident in a row house in Brooklyn a few years ago. The owners were unaware of a gas leak coming from the clothes dryer. The house literally blew up when the couple returned home and flipped on a light switch. Do not ignore the smell of gas!
Do not wait for the service people to come. Call your gas company now!

nymarty - I have a 30" DCS gas range and it doesn't take nearly as long as yours to preheat. It takes approximately 15 minutes to preheat to 350, 20 minutes to 400 and 25 minutes to 450. (I usually preheat with convection on which seems to preheat it a little faster). Now, I'm not using a thermometer - those times are based on when the oven decides it's preheated so they may be a little on the low side but the oven seems to bake fine after those preheats.

I agree with the other posters - get the gas company in now - if you tell them you have a gas smell from your oven, their emergency service should show up ASAP. Don't wait for Bluestar service to show up.

I just did a quick check on the preheat on my Bluestar RNB30. It took somewhere between 12 and 14 minutes till the heating indicator light went out.

marty -- I have a 30 y.o. Modern Maid gas range with a 30" oven. It takes about 20 minute to heat to 400. There's never an issue with the preheating. It's very fast. No smell at all. It throws tremendous heat.

I'd not have the service company come out -- as others have said, I'd go with the gas company.

saskiasmom: My 30 inch Bluestar is the best oven I have ever used. It is quite reliable in terms of heating and the capacity can't be beat. I cook a lot and one of my sons is becoming an avid baker. His pies and cookies are uniformly well baked and browned (and delicious). We have not found the pre-heat to be a problem. The first instruction in most recipes is to preheat the oven before doing anything else. Keeping to that advice seems to do the trick. You should know, though, the oven door gets quite hot which may be an issue if there are little kids around the kitchen.

By the way, your name intrigues me and I wonder if our paths may have crossed a long time ago.

mimsic: Thank you for that resounding endorsement. I have gone back and read all the Blue Star archives and I am now sure I will order one with confidence. Your baking (and your son's) seems to be similar to what I had in mind & I am looking forward to the day when the kitchen remodel commences.

P.S. Saskia is the name of my daughter's schipperke dog. Schipperke's are from Belgium; you may be familiar with the name since Saskia was the name of Rembrandt's wife. (My daughter is an art history major, specializing in Northern Renaissance art.)

Saskiasmom: Thanks for sharing that. The Saskia I once knew was also a dog, a Keeishound, the beloved dog of a family for whom my sisters and I babysat, long ago. I did know the Rembrandt reference because of that family. While I am not much of an animal lover, whenever I see a Keeishound or hear the name Saskia, I am quikly and warmly reminded of a very lovely pet. - M

You think your Bluestar takes a long time to get to 350, try THREE YEARS for mine. Our 48" range was installed three years ago and never got above 300 degrees, until today when I finally figured out that if I set it at 500, it would heat to 350. If you set it to 350, it only heats to 260. Of course we complained but we were told that we had to give it time to warm up.

Our BlueStar is installed it in a remodeled summer home and it only gets used on holidays, mostly during August. Here we are again (August), pulling out our hair, remembering again that this range was the greatest mistake of our $2 mm remodeling job. We tried to report the problem to the appliance dealer but he had gone out of business. We tried calling Prizer Painter but there was no one there. The first year the phone wasn't even answered. The second year they had an automated phone attendant who said push one for service, etc. but no one ever returned a call. This year, there is a delightful human named Missy who is apparently consolidating their service away from Signature but she knew of only one resource in Rhode Island, and when we called that resource, they said that they don't service or carry Blue Star anymore. He was clearly mad at the company too.
When we first became interested in Bluestar it was from an article in Departures magazine, saying this was the most flexible cooktop in the business - unsealed burners and wide range of btus. That is true - the cooktop is pretty neat. The oven is a disaster - the only part that heats to 350 are the burner knobs on the front of the unit.
If anyone knows a service person who can come to Westerly, Rhode Island, please tell us. If anyone skilled at servicing these is interested in buying a slightly used Bluestar, please tell us. If anyone has a friend who is considering buying a Blue Star, please tell the friend - DON"T DO IT. Ignore the classy website - the product is CRAP and the customer service is worse!

nymarty,
I can't comment on the BS oven because I don't have one, but I have an older 36" DCS AG. It takes longer to preheat than my last oven, but it's also a lot larger. Somewhere on this forum, I've read that you should allow a 30 minutes preheat for the oven temperature to equalize, even though the light goes out a lot sooner - on my oven, it goes out after about 15-20 minutes for 400 degrees. If memory serves, the BTU is the same on the BS oven as the DCS (30,000) so there shouldn't be that much of a difference.

Gee oldcar guy, I hate to hear you had such problems with your BS. It would seem that if it were that bad, for a 2MM remodel, I would have yanked that thing out a couple of years ago and spent 5K putting in a Wolf.

That said, I have a Wolf 36 inch and our only complaint is that it takes forever to pre-heat. Huge oven though. It doens't take 40 minutes though...maybe 20-25? And it does have a bit of an burn/exhaust odor at first but that quickly subsides. Maybe your burners are not adjusted correctly?

Anyway, I hope for the best for Bluestar since the one for our new house has been sitting my garage for about 6 months now!

Having ordered and now awaiting delivery on a RNB36, I am concerned to hear your tale of woe, oldcarguy. It seems to be decidedly in the minority, but certainly troubling in light of nymarty's problem. Why did you let this problem persist for 3 years? It doesn't seem as if you were very active in trying to resolve it. It's also hard to believe that there are no competent service people for BS's in RI. Please let us hear more. Also love to hear more from other BS range owners about oven functionality.

My BlueStar oven is very even and works great. It pre-heats just fine, but I don't have a large oven. I have a suggestion to those who are curious. The oven floor is removable, and then you can see the burner with all it's flames lit. Those flames are adjustable (air mixture)just like the top burners.

To remove the oven floor, just slide the oven racks out and then remove the rack guides from the sides. No tools necessary. The floor just lifts up and out. Turn your oven on and wait till it lights the burner (this takes a minute for the glow plug to get hot enough to let the gas flow).
What you see, is what you get. It just keeps getting hotter until the thermostat shuts the gas off when it reaches temperature. It's either 'on' or 'off', like a furnace. The thermostat decides when to blast away, or when to stop the supply of gas.

To adjust the air mixture you need to remove the two screws that are located right below the oven door. These hold the stainless cover that has the slots in it. After you remove the screws just lift up on the stainless slotted piece and it comes right off. Now you can see the gas air mixture pipe, with the shutter than can be rotated to open or close off the air supply. This procedure is in the manual.

So what can go wrong? Well, the supply of gas and pressure (a regulator), the thermostat (not likely if the indicator lite at the knob is on), or the air mixture (adjustable).

Or maybe it just takes some time to heat up a cold, big oven. At least it's not running all the time like the original AGA ovens. The thing is, once it's up to heat, it doesn't need a powerful burner to keep it to temperature. Maybe, some day, gas ovens will allow the top broiler and the oven to run at the same time for pre-heat, but there are a number of reasons, including safety, why this is not done.

for a moment let's assume the odor is not a gas leak. a week and 1/2 in, i'll believe that OP had that checked at least for safey sake...

alex's idea above based on the original post is what to check. if the flame is not adjusted properly the result will be exactly as described: a lazy flame that does not heat properly and just licks the oven bottom flame plate. if so, the smell is likely the steel burning away. can be very pungent. funny how a properly adjusted flame is much hotter but doesn't burn the steel away the same way.

from room temperature to 350-400 should take 10-15 minutes for the light to go out the first time. the temperature will rise above where you set it by as much as 25 degrees - happens in most all cold ovens - and then drops below your setting and the thermostat tells the burner to come back on. it will take a minimum of three cycles of the thermostat to get all the steel parts as hot as they will get. that could easily take 30 minutes or more.

there are lots of things that could affect this - quality of gas (propane especially), altitude, burner adjustment, correctly sized port and we still aren't 100% sure there isn't a leak/block between the oven valve and the oven burner........

UPDATE: "Gas" smell is gone. We had the gas company come out to check it and a service company and both found that there were no gas leaks. It turns out the smell was probably from metal/paint dust that was accumulating in the metal plate under the oven floor. The oven floor is actually two steel plates, and the one that sits almost directly on the burner had these flakes collecting in it that seemed to be mostly ash at this point. I think I got most of it out and am pretty sure that was causing the "gas" smell. The service guy adjusted the flame and I checked it too and it's a good blue flame.

STILL NEED HELP: The unfortunate thing is that the oven still takes FOREVER to get hot and then stay there. Yesterday I turned the oven to 450, with a thermometer in the middle of the oven that I can easily see with the light on, and timed it. It took 20 minutes to get to 200, 40 minutes to get to 350, and 70 minutes to get to 425. It never got to 450. I never opened the door. I then opened the oven to put in some roast potatoes and set the temp down a little to 400. The oven temp light was on and never went off from that point on, which I'm assuming means the oven never got back up to 400. I didn't open the door back up for at least 20 minutes after putting the potatoes in. This is CRAZY.

Has anyone else experienced this? Any other ideas on why the temp takes so long to get up there? The flame on the single burner in the oven is a nice blue, no orange, and curls around the burner and up, but seems tight like it's supposed to. The cooktop burners get incredibly hot so I know the gas to the range is sufficient. Any thoughts on how to proceed from here?

Many thanks...

Marty

I don't know what to tell you except that there must be something wrong with your oven. You said you had a service tech. there - what did he say? Having a blue flame is good but is obviously not sufficient. Why was there paint/dust on the plate above the burner? Is something open and the heat leaking out instead of heating the oven? You need to contact Bluestar again and get another service tech out - what you're experiencing is not acceptable. Good luck.

UPDATE: "Gas" smell is gone. We had the gas company come out to check it and a service company and both found that there were no gas leaks. It turns out the smell was probably from metal/paint dust that was accumulating in the metal plate under the oven floor. The oven floor is actually two steel plates, and the one that sits almost directly on the burner had these flakes collecting in it that seemed to be mostly ash at this point. I think I got most of it out and am pretty sure that was causing the "gas" smell. The service guy adjusted the flame and I checked it too and it's a good blue flame.

Thanks for the report. And thanks for validating points 3 and 4 of my August 2nd posting! ;-) It's wise to verify there are/were no gas leaks, but I had a feeling that was not what you were experiencing.

Weissman, the removable floor of the BlueStar oven is the top visible plate (what you see when you look into the oven cavity), with a welded second plate beneath. There is a one inch air gap between these two parallel plates, and all of these surfaces exposed to the burner are painted. Why, I don't know.

When I burned-in my RNB30, I couldn't figure out why it was still smelling after nearly 4 hours of use. I removed the oven floor and discovered burnt paint and ash that had accumulated between the two plates. Once I cleaned that out, and thoroughly vacuumed the entire area, that "smell" was dramatically reduced.

I thought I had posted that experience once before, but let that be a lesson to future BlueStar owners: clean all surfaces as per the directions, burn in, take apart, vacuum, burn, repeat.

P.S. Marty, definitely stay on top of Prizer regarding the heat issue. As you've seen by now, 36" ovens DO take a while to heat up, but NOT that long!

This may sound crazy, but are you confident that the oven flames are the right size? (I know you said you had the mixture adjusted so the flames are nice and clean blue. I'm talking not about air-fuel mixture but about total fuel flow.)

The oven on our 36" RNB heats up reasonably quick. 350 in 15 minutes, 400 in 19, and 450 in 24 minutes without the convection fan on, a little faster (and more stable/uniform initial temps) with convection. But when the range arrived, they'd configured the thing for propane, even though we were very clear (and Eurostoves' records confirmed) that we'd ordered a NG range. All it took was two phone calls--one to Trevor at EuroStoves and one to the folks at Signature Marketing in NJ--and we had a new pack of venturis for the entire range delivered overnight. Once I put them in we had crazy power on the top, a working broiler (finally), and borderline scary oven flames. I'm wondering if you should ask BlueStar to send you a new oven burner venturi and swap out the one you have on there now. They should send it for free, it's really easy to replace, and if nothing else it will eliminate one possible cause of your troubles.

On a side note, I have to say that all the info I was able to collect on the BlueStar on this site gave me a pretty accurate picture of what to expect. We've had our range for 9 months now, and it's still my favorite thing in the kitchen. It's not "purty," mind you, but it's not ugly, either, and it's performed exactly as promised.

The top is as wonderful as most people seem to agree. Unlike susanandmarkw, we've been thrilled with the broiler--restaurant quality steaks, plus the best way to sear a roast I've ever seen. I just wish it were bigger and wasn't just that 18 x 12 square in the roof of the oven. (My Father-in-Law tried to broil six ribeyes at once and wondered why only the ones in the middle were cooking properly. I told him he should "look before you cook.") And while we don't do a ton of baking, we've done our fair share of roasting/braising, and the capacity of the oven can't be beat. I did thermometer tests when we first got it installed, and noticed that the convection seemed to give a more even heat throughout the various areas of the oven--no surprise, I guess--but I've since learned that we could get the same results if we simply let the temp "settle in" for 10 mins or so after the initial fire-up is over. Our knobs get warm, especially if we're running it at 400 for 1 hr or more, but never scorching hot.

Not to beat a dead horse, but it's basically just a big box o' fire. And it's worked really well for us.

UPDATE: I called Prizer Painter and spoke to Peter in customer service. He was incredibly helpful and offered to provide a replacement thermostat. Next step is to get the service company out to the house again to re-check the igniter, the thermostat, the gas pressure and the amperage. One of these things (or some combination) should be the culprit and my hope is that the fix will happen soon.

Thanks, everyone, for your messages and ideas. For those with smelly ovens, I did exactly what 'joe blowe' did. I pulled out the bottom panel, turned it on its side and banged on it to get all that burnt paint and ash out of the oven. I also vacuumed out the bottom box around the burner and made sure there was nothing in there to burn either. Smell is completely gone now. Just have to fix the heat problem.

Marty

FINAL UPDATE: It's fixed! On the 3rd visit from Pete's Appliance Service in Paramus, NJ, they finally sent the right guy. He was finally the guy that listened to the problem -- poor heating but good igniter and good thermostat -- and realized it had to be that the burner wasn't getting enough gas. He checked out the burner, and then took a look at the gas coupling coming into the burner and took that apart. What he found inside that brass coupling was a small piece of fluff that was blocking the gas flow -- which was just some loose fire insulation material that Blue Star uses. Don't know how it got in there, probably during assembly, but that's what caused the problem. I can't believe it was that simple.

Thanks for everyone's ideas and support. I'm now back to loving the entire Blue Star range and not just those amazing cooktop burners. My next challenge is figuring out why my Kobe range hood isn't drawing enough fumes/oil/etc. out of the house.

All of this said and congrats in getting your problem fixed, I have a Wolf 36 inch and it is a bear to preheat! EASY 30-40 minutes to 400 and this is consistent with most reports I have heard. Its just a really big oven but I love it for having only 1 oven in the house. In our new house though, we limited oven sizes (3 of them) to 30 inches and they preheat MUCH faster. So we have 2 gas ovens in the Bluestar and 1 electric Wolf 30 inch wall oven.

We were told by the tech that the 36" AG Wolf has the same size glow bar or heating element as the 30", hence the possibility of longer times to reach temp or come back up to temp after opening the oven door.

FWIW, our 36" Wolf range's oven takes about 1/2 hr give or take to preheat, but I don't think our old 4 burner GE's oven took much less time than that.

oven now cranks out heat -- and gets up there fast. 18 minutes to get to 375. before it was more like 50 minutes. wow. we can actually roast in our oven again -- not just bake at 350.

I'm glad the problem was resolved, Marty: makes me feel better about ordering one...

Sorry, but I can't resist:

Posted by cpovey (My Page) on
Fri, Aug 3, 07 at 15:09

... You may have a leak or partial clog in the line running to the oven or in the burner tube itself inside the range.

Yippee!! My Bluestar 36"RNB is no longer smelly thanks to the tips from "joe blowe" and "nymarty"!!! Thanks so much ya'll!!!! I thought I had plastic melting somewhere every time we used the oven. After cleaning it as suggested by y'all (I had a bunch of burn off in that bottom panel) NO MORE SMELL!! Wohooo!!! THANKS:)))))) For those of you that don't know (like I didn't) the bottom panel lifts out very easily. Just pick it up by the holes.

On the new Bluestars the oven has a granite-type pattern with small white blotches or dots. I scrubbed a spill with a nylon pad and some cleaner and the white bits scrubbed off! Has this happened to anyone else?

NYMarty- I'm so happy I read your post. I have a 36inch BS range. The burners are amazing, absolutely love! i have the same experience with the oven heating up. It takes FOREVER!

After seeing this post, I can give the information to the BS service tech and the appliance store where I bought the range. I know the oven capacity is huge- the main reason I picked the Blue Star, and thought maybe that's why it was taking so long. Now I'll give the technicians this information. Thanks!

Nymarty- so happy to see this thread as I have the same issue with my 36in BS range. It takes FOREVER to heat up. I'll definitely use your intel to solve the problem. The burners are amazing, absolutely love those!

We are moving from a house with a lacanche volnay and much smaller oven, which i LOVE, to a new home with a 36” blue star and this heat up and large oven size is my primary concern. i picked the lacanche over blue star 12 years ago, and have never regretted it. the volnay is like a speed oven, speedy heat up, great convection and fast cooking. roast veg in 30 min for everthing. i think the burners will be fine, though the lacanche often had too much fire power. hope i like the blue star and the oven serves us well and dont have problrms with it. perhaps remind myself that the views in the new house are worth it!