All American canner leak

[k15n1]

My Bayou Classic burner and All American canner finally arrived and I tried them out last night. First batch of whole-kernel corn went OK. Couldn't get a good seal on the second batch. Took 5 tries. On the 4th try, I lost pressure all of a sudden, which scared me. Turns out, it was leaking badly enough to evaporate most of the water. on the 5th try, I just put ina lot of water (2" below tops of first row of pint jars) and watched it like a hawk---for 55 min. No pressure drop, and everything turned out OK. Trouble is, it took 8 hours to can 2 batches.

I tried all of the obvious stuff... cleaned the rim, used the right oil. Called the manufacturer, and they told me that I should use oil only on the bottom, tighten down a pair of wing nuts, adjust the gap, then do another pair, then the last, and then tighten them all again, one-by-one. They also said that I should really crank down on the lid. I had been afraid of over-tightening, but no more.

Well, I'm really getting a kick out of canning. However, my time is limited, so I hope I can get this resolved. It's already a time-consuming process without problems.

Next, beets and beans.

 

[gettinaclue]

I've been eyeballing one of these canners for the last few months. They sure are nice. I hope you get everything sorted out and you are able to can with out to much trouble.

 

[k15n1]

Apparently, I am almost the only person who has ever had trouble with these... I suppose there's not much help on the mighty intertubes because of the lack of problems.

 

[Lady Henevere]

I haven't had a problem with mine. I usually tighten an opposite pair of wing nuts at a time -- the 12 and 6 o'clock ones, then the 10 and 4, etc. Could you see where the steam was coming out? Maybe there's a problem with the seal around the pressure gauge or something....?

 

[k15n1]

I could see the bubbles and steam shooting out of the seal.

 

[hoosier]

I was taught to tighten opposite pairs of clamps as well. I always use Crisco to seal. (I guess because my parents used Crisco - I don't eat the stuff. )
Check to make sure there is not a nick somewhere on the edge. The All American is a great canner, but maybe this one is faulty.

 

[k15n1]

Success! I used vegtable shortening on the bottom edge of the seal. I tried to follow the advice of the manufacturer, but when I tighten down one pair, I can't adjust the gap for the next pair. So I adjusted it for one pair, then the next, loosening the first pair a little. Mainly, I just tightened down the lid a lot tighter.

I talked to the company guy the other day. He said they hydrostatically test these things to almost 200 psi and they often survive that. They take their UL listing pretty seriously at the foundary. I'm not so worried about it exploding anymore---not that I'm going to stop being careful. It's just nice to know that the canner can withstand 10x more pressure than the max that's listed in the manual.

My beets lost a lot of their color. Someone claims it's the variety that's to blame...

 

[framing fowl]

He said they hydrostatically test these things to almost 200 psi and they often survive that.

That is some serious testing.