SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20190909-BE3DB-2147377775. Severity: Incident, No Injury. Product: BlueStar RGTNB364GSS (BlueStar Stovetop Model RGTNB364GSS Serial Number 1410489 Gas rangetop with four burners and a built-in griddle.). Incident: Our BlueStar Stovetop Model RGTNB364GSS's griddle started to light itself and heat up when turned completely off this weekend. This is a gas stovetop and we heard the sound of gas turn on and the flame start-up. As this was the weekend and Bluestar was not open to call, we shut off the gas and electric to the stovetop so it would not turn on by itself while we slept. We turned the gas and electric back on to cook breakfast the next morning and the griddle immediately lit up again on its own. We checked the knob again to ensure it was completely off and shut off the gas and electric again. Today, Monday morning we called BlueStar customer service and were told it was probably a runaway thermostat and that it would need to be replaced. They said there was no way to turn off the thermostat, so when it malfunctioned this could happen. After a little discussion, they agreed to send a new thermostat to be installed. I am concerned that there is no way to turn off the thermostat. Unlike the range burners, which don't receive gas when the knob is turned off, the griddle's gas supply, is controlled by the thermostat, so that when it has an issue the griddle can not be turned off. It seems like when the knob is turned to off it should shut power to the thermostat, or there should be a switch to turn off the griddle/thermostat. This is a huge burn/fire risk and we are hoping this can be fixed.