Comments
hbHPBbjvFK9w5D t1_j1gysdo wrote
Normally I'd agree with you, but National Pressure Cookers are the best! Old ones still go for a pretty penny on Ebay. I own two.
The pro on this cooker is there is no seal - the design of the lid locks tight to the pot all on it's own. The con is that the pressure gauge wears out and has to be recalibrated - as do all cookers. The trick is to use a pressure weight, which you can also buy on Ebay - those will last till the earth falls into the sun.
doctorzaius6969 t1_j1h7gwi wrote
how high can the pressure become with such a system?
Andyb1000 t1_j1hcoiq wrote
Mythbusters would find out for you. I miss that show.
doctorzaius6969 t1_j1hcsv0 wrote
I don't mean the limit but how high the pressure is with how you're supposed to use it. My suspicion is that this pressure cooker keeps the pressure much lower than modern ones which would be definitely a disadvantage, given pressure is what you want to have in a pressure cooker
hbHPBbjvFK9w5D t1_j1hg9nn wrote
I've only used it at 30 pounds pressure - more than enough to can what I want.
doctorzaius6969 t1_j1hgrck wrote
30 pounds pressure? Are you sure? That's 206 kPa, that's so high, it would be illegal in my country for safety reasons.
hbHPBbjvFK9w5D t1_j1hk0ea wrote
Those are the instructions in my recipes. Besides, they all have a safety valve. Sure, you'll spray whatever you're cooking on the ceiling, but I've never had it happen to me.
premiom t1_j1j0sc1 wrote
I own one of these. They do have seals. I outfitted mine with a spout for a pressure weight and a modern pressure gauge. I also replaced the seal and pressure safety valve.
hbHPBbjvFK9w5D t1_j1joqf2 wrote
A presto- style cooker would have a seal, but the ones I own specifically requires no seal. Have worked just fine for decades.
Brandbll t1_j1gt9ff wrote
Yeah, I'm good.
ashenhaired t1_j1hchjz wrote
When something goes wrong with a pressure cooker it's a catastrophe
Billypisschips t1_j1ioz5l wrote
Maybe on really old ones. The worst that's ever happened to mine is the safety valve hitting the ceiling.
cleeder t1_j1jbdjy wrote
> Maybe on really old ones.
Like, say, a 1930s pressure cooker by chance….
Billypisschips t1_j1jfo0b wrote
No, safety valves were a thing by the 1930s. There is one on the cooker in the picture, and a vent hole, and a lid held by the strength of its seal, designed to fail at a certain pressure. Three failsafes to overcome before catastrophe, and that was in the 1930s.
keithrc2000 t1_j1g5xnq wrote
Nice! I wonder at what point metal fatigue becomes an issue, if ever? That's a lot of heating and cooling under pressure.
ubermaker77 OP t1_j1g6ztk wrote
I'm not sure. If any engineers or metallurgists see this and want to weigh in I'd be interested. This is super thick cast aluminum, not anything like modern stamped metal pressure canners/cookers. But I don't know how that bears on metal fatigue.
GodlessAristocrat t1_j1gb9ye wrote
You can take it to your local Extension office and they can check it for you.
barefoot-warrior t1_j1h1jck wrote
Sorry if this is a dumb question but I've seen extension office mentioned multiple times and I haven't the foggiest what this is? I'm new here
Andyb1000 t1_j1hckpm wrote
This is in the context of horticulture but I guess the principle of the same for other disciplines.
https://www.thespruce.com/what-is-an-extension-office-5189448
sirJ69 t1_j1hmrbm wrote
It is the same. Pressure canning is used to preserve your crop so one of the services they provide is calibrate pressure canner gauges.
GodlessAristocrat t1_j1i4l26 wrote
Not dumb at all. /u/Andyb1000 (below) answered it.
For those not in the US, I'm not sure if there is an equivalent in the EU or other parts of the world. Maybe someone can chime in.
frickenfantastic t1_j1ia2h8 wrote
there isn't a direct equivalent
The extension service was part of the land grant universities that were established in the US
nolanhoff t1_j1hs956 wrote
Because it’s aluminum it will fail at some point. It isn’t ferrous, so it doesn’t have an endurance strength( Infinite life). How many stress cycles it can endure, I can’t tell you. It all depends on how they designed it.
Pressure vessels are usually required to have a factor of safety of about 6, but I’m not sure if something like this would need to adhere to that. If it did have that high factor of safety, it would last quite a long time.
For a reference point, it could be designed for 10,000 or 100,000 or 1,000,000 cycles. You’d have to ask the engineers who designed it that question.
blueballz76 t1_j1ibhc9 wrote
It's a pressure vessel, that means it cannot be designed for infinite life, all pressure vessels eventually fail.
frickenfantastic t1_j1iphpm wrote
For similar pressure vessels in industrial service (like 50,000 gallon tanks), we'd not let a unit like this be operated without a fitness for service test every ten years or so.
Any company that does fitness for service tests for industrial equipment could probably do the same tests (ultrasonic thickness, joint/weld testing, etc) and make a determination if the vessel is safe to keep using, but I'd expect that to be cost prohibitive.
LeonardTimber t1_j1ikdjk wrote
Small nit pick - ‘ferrous’ just means it has iron in it and does not guarantee infinite cycle life. Cast iron or pig iron, for example, have a cycle limit.
For some reason, the inclusion of Carbon with Iron is what makes a material with infinite cycle life under a certain load, so Steels are generally the only materials with infinite cycle life at low cycle loads.
ubermaker77 OP t1_j1irxrt wrote
Well, I can't imagine that this has been through more than 1k-2k cycles, max. My mom had it in storage for the better part of ~20 years and only used it a few times. This isn't and hasn't been used with commercial/industrial frequency, people, just 5-10 times a year. All the evidence I have supports that it's completely safe if used and maintained properly.
SadElkBoy t1_j1iymc4 wrote
I don’t know if I would use a potential blast device without knowing it’s life. Sorry, not worth it
jollygreengrowery t1_j1j9kad wrote
I feel like using old space heaters is bad for the same reason.
nolanhoff t1_j1jk4ht wrote
Electric space heater?
jollygreengrowery t1_j1jn2xf wrote
Yea the electric ones. You'll see them at yard sales for $5... the cord will have been repaired at least once and it was likely made 20-35 years ago
nolanhoff t1_j1jn9qr wrote
Eh, other than no safety measures I don’t believe anything due to fatigue could fail, much less cause a fire.
jollygreengrowery t1_j1jnezv wrote
👍
windoneforme t1_j1hr5a8 wrote
Cast metals are more prone to cracking than stamped. They are more brittle due to the crystalline structure that forms with the cooling of the metal.
I'd also like to point out that a modern canner would have an additional back up pressure relief device. If anything clogs the pressure regulator (but of food, rust or other corrosion for 60-80yrs of exposure to moisture ect)on this type you're in for a kitchen remodel at best, or a casket at worst.
uslashuname t1_j1i0rj7 wrote
I was suspicious when you said it was cast aluminum and not stamped… I zoomed in to try and spot what I suspected and I think it’s pretty clear. I bet you there’s an outer shell and an inner shell, they (partially) fill the outer shell with molten aluminum then push the inner shell down to squeeze it out until what you have is s as middle layer of cast aluminum. You can see the outer and inner shell on the lip to the right of the “open” word, look for a line near the top of the rim and a line near the bottom. The inner shell is effectively perpendicular to the cut by the time it comes all the way to the outer edge of the lip, so it can appear thinner than the outer shell which may have been cut at an angle.
To see if those shells are steel is easy: are they magnetic?
It would be good if they are, you don’t want aluminum in your food and it does leech extensively especially in acidic foods.
ubermaker77 OP t1_j1ir2ka wrote
Interesting! Yes it does have a shell apparently, but it's aluminum not steel. This is just a canner, not a pressure cooker, so there's no contact between the aluminum and our food. We don't use aluminum cookware because of the leeching you pointed out.
keithrc2000 t1_j1g88vg wrote
What you got canning?
ubermaker77 OP t1_j1geu7n wrote
Ham, lentil, and carrot stew that my wife made a big batch of
GingerBeast81 t1_j1i8jwv wrote
My first thought too was "yikes, metal fatigue from heat cycles!". I'd be putting it in a shelf as decoration and buy a new one just to be safe.
Twerks4Jesus t1_j1gn5ea wrote
Maybe somethings shouldn't be used for life? Seems like a huge gamble for a humble brag.
oakparkv t1_j1g98so wrote
That thing is so cool looking! Love the art deco style!
ubermaker77 OP t1_j1gf12a wrote
Thanks! I think so, too. I've actually got two of these that are identical. The wood handles and the old-school pressure gauge are cool.
[deleted] t1_j1g9wqt wrote
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ubermaker77 OP t1_j1gg4n1 wrote
I know pressure cookers/canners can be dangerous, but I honestly feel better about these old ones than some of the newer ones. The design is so heavy duty that the only way that things could really go sideways is if 1) you forget what you're doing, don't watch the cooker, or otherwise fail to keep pressure at the right level. We don't do this, but it's why my mom isn't allowed to have a stovetop cooker/canner anymore (she gets to doing other things and forgets). We got her an electric Instapot now and that's much safer because it shuts itself off automatically, or 2) you've seriously damaged it by dropping it or hitting it with something hard, causing a potentially hidden fracture in the metal, but you use it anyway.
[deleted] t1_j1hh2iw wrote
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windoneforme t1_j1hrn2f wrote
Don't forget corrosion and metal fatigue from hearing and chilling cycles.
JimGerm t1_j1i5fxy wrote
Nope. That WILL fail someday 100% guarantee. Get over your nostalgia and get something safe.
Orthophren t1_j1grocj wrote
Five generations since the early 1930s? That works out to five consecutive 18 year old mothers to cover 90 years. Just surprised is all. Feels like one of those "tell me you're American without telling me you're American" TikToks.
ubermaker77 OP t1_j1h4akk wrote
You're not wrong. My mom had me at 21, grandmother was married at 14 and had my mom (her second child) at 16, and my great grandmother had four kids by the time she was 21... The assumption itself isn't necessarily true if the first generation was already older when she bought it, though. Say she bought it in 1930, passed it onto her daughter in 1940, then it only needs transfered three more times in the next 82 years to reach 5 generations of ownership.
Fun fact: my wife actually has a 5 generation matrilineal photo taken in 2018 with her great grandmother (who was 96 at the time) all the way down to our daughter.
ELONGATEDSNAIL t1_j1gt794 wrote
Was thinking that to. That's a lot of family to have over 90 years.
Odd-Pick7512 t1_j1iawbl wrote
A generation is about 20 years. So since 1930 in the US you have The Silent Generation, Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z, and babies born today are currently a new unnamed generation.
naughtysaurus t1_j1jwctg wrote
It's not unnamed. Generation Alpha started in 2010.
Odd-Pick7512 t1_j1ka56m wrote
First I've heard that term. TIL.
I think 2010 seems a bit early and cuts into Gen Z period. But that's just me.
naughtysaurus t1_j1kczjn wrote
The beginning year is a bit fuzzy, but for research purposes the starting year is 2010. Lots of stuff says early to mid 2010s.
WikiSummarizerBot t1_j1kd0yq wrote
>Generation Alpha (Gen Alpha for short) is the Western demographic cohort succeeding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early to mid 2010s as starting birth years and the mid 2020s as ending birth years. Named after the first letter in the Greek alphabet, Generation Alpha is the first to be born entirely in the 21st century. Most members of Generation Alpha are the children of Millennials. Generation Alpha has been born at a time of falling fertility rates across much of the world.
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apexncgeek t1_j1g7bv2 wrote
I've got one that I think is from the 50s. Still works perfectly. We usually use the instant pot now but I can't bring myself to get rid of it.
ubermaker77 OP t1_j1g7vlv wrote
We love our instapot for cooking and use it 4+ times a week but you can't beat these big old canners for canning (my wife just canned a bunch of soup, broth, and tomatos from our summer garden that we froze until we had time to process them).
apexncgeek t1_j1i0tak wrote
I haven't canned in probably 20 years (me and glass is a bad combination). Mostly pressure cook beans these days. Used to love when mom would can jams. They sit a year or two too long and you've got some great chewy candy.
LAMustang61 t1_j1genix wrote
As long as you can replace the gasket, dont get aliminum rot, can on!
Pedalingmycity t1_j1jxdxv wrote
I’d add some “cutting board oil” to the wood to keep it from cracking and keep it soft
wuthappenedtoreddit t1_j1gce55 wrote
What do people usually cook in these? I’ve only heard of these when people were using them to make bombs.
ubermaker77 OP t1_j1genw9 wrote
This is a pressure canner, not a cooker (though we use one of those as well). In this one, you put glass canning jars with food that you want to preserve in it and it will cook, sterilize, and seal them so they're shelf stable for 1-5 years or more. In the early-mid 1900s, many (the majority?) of American families would can some of their own vegetables, meat, sauces, jellies and jams, etc. It's getting more popular again now.
wuthappenedtoreddit t1_j1gfa8l wrote
Oh man how cool. I’m going to read up about them. I had no idea.
ubermaker77 OP t1_j1ghvpi wrote
It's nice to be able to preserve your own food without filling up the freezer. When we see really good food or produce deals, like when turkeys and hams get discounted to 75% off after the holidays, we buy enough to last us a year and can it. It's also how we preserve about half of the food from our garden.
LAMustang61 t1_j1gej3y wrote
Canning; jams, jellies, veges, fruits allnsorts of foods
wuthappenedtoreddit t1_j1gf7aa wrote
I see. Thank you. Why is it good for canning?
LdyAce t1_j1h7mqk wrote
Pressure canners are typically used for low acid foods like meats because they reach a higher temperature than water bath canners to kill things like botulism and make food safe.
LAMustang61 t1_j1gjnlo wrote
That particular design made home canning easier and more accessible to many. Ny grandmothers both used them when I was little, in the 60s
gr0nr t1_j1gzqgr wrote
I've got an outboard motor from the same company.
sosuemetoo t1_j1k1xan wrote
I have the exact canner! Uses Presto rings.
My second canner is from the 1940's.
I've never had a problem with either. Both bought at garage sales for $10, around 37 years ago.
misskm t1_j1qc3uq wrote
National changed their name to Presto in 1939! Same company.
mein_liebchen t1_j1gq7n5 wrote
where do you get replacement rubber seals? I got rid of one from the 50/60s because I thought I would never find new seals.
OhtareEldarian t1_j1gwfyg wrote
mein_liebchen t1_j1l33jb wrote
Thanks!
hbHPBbjvFK9w5D t1_j1gz3zk wrote
no seals for this one. The gauge goes wonky and has to be recalibrated every few years, but I bought pressure weights instead- so no calibration needed.
signofzeta t1_j1huaa6 wrote
Awesome! I’d love to see if you can get that cleaned up so it’s looking like new — that’d surely make your ancestors proud — but as long as it does its job, that’s just icing on the cake.
Darrenwad3 t1_j1ibw5r wrote
5 generations in 90 years, I'm intrigued!
DonutsOnTheWall t1_j1tompg wrote
It's cool. I would keep it but buy a modern safer one. I have seen movies of pressure cookers failing, and I would much rather have a new safer one to use. Chances might be small but there have been added quite some safety features since this beast was made.
Awesome made tool though.
loopingrightleft t1_j2234ft wrote
Loved the sound of the release valve. It meant winter and good stew.
[deleted] t1_j1g1uil wrote
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ubermaker77 OP t1_j1g2gv3 wrote
It's completely clean. That's what pitted cast aluminum looks like, fyi.
Kn0tnatural t1_j1g5nbg wrote
Go clean your grandma's cast iron skillet and get back to us
[deleted] t1_j1ghded wrote
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Irish618 t1_j1ge5uy wrote
Man, I'm all for BIFL, but I'm not sure I'd extend that to a pressure cooker....