00:00 Intro - Not Making A Seal
00:49 Knowing What Your Pressure Is
01:11 The Rubber Gasket
02:17 Recognizing When You're Losing Steam
03:00 Safety
03:21 Things To Try First
03:57 Clamping The Lid
06:24 How to Replace The Gasket

Knowing what pressure your canner is at is extremely important. That’s why I always use a dial gauge. It always shows you the exact pressure you’re at.

On my PRESTO canner, to keep the steam from escaping, there’s a rubber gasket that makes a seal between the lid and the base. After a few years, though, I notice steam can start to leak out from around it. It seems to lose its resiliency.

Also, there are small and even microscopic gaps on the metal surfaces. If they’re not completely sealed, steam can leak out. And all these losses can add up. You won’t be able to keep enough steam to maintain the pressure you need. And that's very serious because you can’t trust the food if it’s not processed properly. You could get very sick if you try eating it.

But here’s how to recognize when you are losing steam. It's actually invisible but when it escapes it condenses in the air and you see a cloudy jet of water vapour. The main vent is on top of the canner and has a weight on it. Its purpose is to release excess steam to regulate the pressure. When you see any vapour escaping from there, that’s completely normal, along with a hissing noise and a bit of water dripping. But if you get that same vapour from underneath the lid, that means you have a bad gasket.

You always have to be careful around steam. Always respect it. If you don’t, you could get a painful burn. So to stay safe, I recommend using a good pair of heat resistant kitchen gloves. They can give you some protection in case you happen to put your hand in direct contact with it.

So To fix this loss of steam, first try cleaning the gasket thoroughly. It may simply just have some debris stuck to it. Also take a look all along the lid and the top edge of the pot. All these surfaces have to be completely clean.

If you’ve done all this and you still have a little steam escaping, then it’s definitely time to change out the gasket. But if you can’t immediately get a replacement, here’s a quick trick I’ve always used to stop the leak…I clamp down the lid!

I ONLY recommend doing this temporarily…just to get you through the jars that you’ve prepared. Do not do this on a continual basis.

On my Presto canner, when the lid is rotated into its closed position, the handles on both the lid and the pot are lined up. By clamping the handles closer together, it pushes the lid down a little bit just enough to squeeze the gasket tighter. If the steam isn’t leaking too badly, then this quick kitchen hack usually works quite well.
Just make sure the clamps have a complete and firm contact with the handles. You don’t want them to be slipping off.

I prefer to use the clamps where you turn the handle to tighten it. They can be adjusted and give you extremely fine control over the amount of pressure you apply. You could also use the type that closes when you squeeze the grip.

All you want to do is just apply a small amount of pressure. And Adjust each side a little at a time.
You'll know that you’ve sealed it when the hissing from under the lid finally stops. And with this method, there’s no risk that you’ll compromise any of the safety features the canner has.

The steam’s not going build up to any dangerous levels and the lid will always stay interlocked with the base.

Once you’re done processing the jars, don’t remove the clamps immediately. Turn off the heat as you normally would and give the canner time to dissipate the pressure. Once the gauge drops to zero, then you can safely take off the clamps.

This technique may not work with all pressure canners, but it does for my Presto type. If you find that even after you clean it and clamp it, it’s STILL leaking too much steam, then there’s really nothing more you can do…. the gasket is just too far gone and needs immediate replacement and I show how you do that in the video.

You’ll see a big difference when you compare the new seal with the old one.

Happy canning and thanks for watching!

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