Bluestar RCS 30, 5 Years Later Followup

It’s been about five years since I bought and installed my Bluestar RCS-30. The reason I chose the Bluestar was it had no computer, and it’s pedigree is a stove and range that has a commercial background. It’s heavy stainless, has powerful burners and heavy cast iron burner grates. I have had to KILL three electronic computerized stoves in the past and this was after installing refurb computers since after 7 years you can’t find a new computer for any of these things. You can find my original Bluestar RCS-30 Review here.

Bluestar RCS-30 Reliability

For the most part the Bluestar RCS-30 has been reliable. I say for the most part the RCS-30 reliability is good, because I have had to buy parts and install them myself. Stuff breaks, and stuff wears out. We are talking about reliability of parts that constantly being exposed to heat, moisture, and heat/cooling down cycles. I guess some of these parts are consumables and it’s to be expected.

1. two burner ignitors
2. 3 burner spark controllers
3. 2 oven ignitors
4. 1 burner valve

Bluestar Parts and Shipping

I will say that Bluestar charges too much for what are mostly generic parts and they have a flat fee for shipping of $20 which I think is highway robbery.

Bluestar Generic Parts Availability

The RCS-30 burner spark controllers are available as generic items. The oven ignitors are available as generic items. The burner ignitors and burner valve, so far are not generic items.

Ebay and Amazon as well as some of the Appliance Parts Stores offer genuine and generic parts. You have to search as the availability changes constantly, as does pricing.

Oh I wish I had a 25,000 BTU Super Burner

I love the Bluestar. I only wish that it came with at least one Super Burner, as I often cook with a giant wok, and I just can’t get enough heat to cook properly with a wok. As soon as you add food it cools down, and takes too long to come back up to heat.

At five years the stove is showing a bit of age. The burners, covers and grates all look worn, much like you’d see in a restaurant kitchen. Oh well, I’d call that patina. The original finish of the burners and parts all had a bluish sort of dark gray finish. Now it’s mostly black.

It’s an easy stove to work on as the Bluestar has all the critical components in an easy place to access. But after removing sheet metal screws once, the hole often is stripped when it comes time to put a screw back in.

While working on the Bluestar RCS-30 you need to watch your hands as the stamped holes in the stainless steel sheetmetal have sharp edges.

As I’ve worked on the Bluestar I’ve found that some areas are a pain to clean. It’s just difficult to your get your hands, fingers and utensils into all the nooks and crannies.

Another issue with clean is we had mice for a while and the mice got into the insulation on one side of the Bluestar. They of course peed in there and it was disgusting and a pain to take care of the smell and the little mouse turds that even showed up behind the burner controllers. BAH.

I’m trying to clean the oven right now, and I think I’m going to have to use a sandblaster to get this thing clean. My wife and I obviously have not kept up on cleaning the oven part.

Overall the Bluestar RCS-30 has been a better stove than previous stoves I’ve owned. It is heavy and heavy duty, and I’d buy another Bluestar. A 36″ or 48″ would be my first choice and with one GIANT WOK burner please.