POWER Pressure cooker / canner. Comments?

[paulg]

Hi!

Anyone own the POWER Pressure cooker canner?
This is the microprocessor-controlled unit sold frequently through informercials.
Emphasis here on the newest, largest version.
The canning function is most important to us, but we will certainly use the pressure-cooking function.
All comments welcome about the largest (or any version) of this machine.
Much obliged!

 

[norgeway]

Well Sort of

I have a 1948 Vischer Flex Seal electric canner...

 

[panthera]

That's going to have to be a 'no' on canning.

80KPA is 11.603PSI and that's too little for safety in canning according to procedures the US established over 100 years ago. You need 103 (plus change)KPA or 15 PSI.
It's hard for a little pressure pan to hit this and hold it, a vintage Presto 8 quart or larger can do it properly, though.
Looks like a nice device, but it's absolutely not safe for canning.

 

[norgeway]

What on earth

Needs more than 10 pounds??? Certainly not green beans, corn or apples....

 

[panthera]

There have been quite

detailed, comprehensive, extensive, exhaustive studies of the matter across more a than a century now.
While it is true that some products may be safely 'preserved' at a lower pressure than the standard 15lbs, everyone, absolutely everyone competent has agreed that a pressure device needs to meet certain minimum standards to achieve proper temperatures over a necessary length of time.
This very pleasant looking little device is not capable of maintaining 15 pounds of pressure, it is therefore not appropriate for use in canning and I note that it does not have any of the certifications as being capable of canning from any of the responsible organizations who actually test and certify compliance.

Why don't we just cut this short and refer to the facts. I've attached a link to such information. Here's an excerpt:
Why You Must Use a Pressure Canner

Clostridiun botulinum spores are very hard to destroy at boiling-water temperatures. High acid foods such as fruits and tomatoes can be processed or “canned” in boiling water. In this method jars of food are heated completely covered with boiling water.

But low-acid vegetables and meats must be processed in pressure canners. Jars of food are placed in 2 to 3 inches of water in a pressure canner, which is then heated to a high enough temperature--at least 240 ◦F. This temperature can only be reached in a pressure canner.

Now, again, this has all been established and tested for over a century. You can only just barely reach 240 F at 11 pounds of pressure, at sea-level. Assuming this device works properly (big assumption, nearly all electronically controlled pressure pans ever tested have shown enormous variations in their pressure regulation) and assuming one is actually at sea-level and the pan has exhausted all air, and is running consistently at 11psi, it will just barely touch 240 F. Again, this is under the most ideal circumstances. If one is in a part of Chicago above sea-level, and given that mean height is 594' that is going to be just about everyone, let's see...yup, no matter how long you run the device, it can never exceed 238.4 degrees. Ever.

That will not kill <span style="font-size: 12pt;">Clostridiun botulinum spores. Not in an hour, not in a day not in a week, not ever.</span>

 

<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I'm sorry, but this device must not be used for canning. Period.</span>

 

<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Now, any vintage Presto pressure cooker with a working weight and sufficient volume can and will exceed 240F in Chicago. I wouldn't even trust this otherwise great device to achieve the necessary temperature for safe canning of those few items which one may can at lower temperatures.</span>

 

http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/uga/using_press_canners.html

 

[norgeway]

I use

A Sears Maid Of Honor from the early 50s, it is a Presto in drag,You would have a fit if you saw how the older folks can here in the South, green beans are boiled 3 hours in a boiling water bath..NO PRESSURE,most older folks are terrified of pressure canners,Not my Grandmother, as soon as Pressure Canners started gaining popularity, She bought one, a Presto, in 1953, My Aunt still uses it, She believed what the Agriculture Extension Agent told her, water bath canning is NOT SAFE for low acid foods, Donalds Mother still uses the hot water bath method.and in over 60 years,no one has ever been sick, but I say, why take a chance, I go one step further, any canned foods I use get a few minutes in the pressure cooker before serving.

 

[panthera]

Hans,

I think you're right. I've got a late '40's canner from Presto with a calibrated guage (our state university does that for a small fee) which I trust. We're above 6,000, so have a slightly heavier weight to compensate.

 

[vacerator]

I bought one

of their medium sized models. The silicone gasket for the vent fell off while I was washing it and got ground up in the garbage disposal.
I returned it to the store.

 

[iheartmaytag]

I have one

Though I like it, I would not trust it to can.  Many websites have reviewed and stated it does not hold the target temperature to safely home can. 

 

Panthera is correct, 15lbs of pressure is required, per USDA for low acid foods, ie green beans, if your elevation is above 1,000 ft.  Lower elevation can use 10lbs.  There was a discussion last year regarding the same.

 

 

Hans, Your elevation is 850 ft, 10lbs will work in your area. 

[this post was last edited: 12/6/2016-08:40]

http://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?61335

 

[xraytech]

My brother received the 10 qt POWER pressure cooker as a gift
After the second use it wouldn't hold pressure and it was leaking steam from multiple places
I'd avoid purchasing it.

 

[panthera]

I still have an earlier version in the cellar

Which is why I can say they're nice devices. The lid gasket is removed for cleaning after each use, it's a bit fragile and the instructions in the manual on how to replace it are just plain wrong. I wonder if they still haven't corrected that? Unless it's on right, steam leaks.

 

I like the principle, but if you want a pressure cooker at 15psi, you're only choice right now is an electric one plugged into a timer or set on a programmable time-delayed induction plate. 

 

[paulg]

Much obliged

Thank you for your detailed insights! I learned about this appliance and more.
You've helped me out a great deal. Thanks!

 

[panthera]

Our Hive Mind

can not be resisted.

The big advantage of these electronic pressure cookers is the 'set and forget' functions. Depending on the model, you can program several steps, different times, just about any desired temperature.

And, they're cute.

 

For normal pressure cooking, albeit slow pressure cooking, they're fine. I suspect the gasket problem isn't the designer's fault, it's the poor description of how to use it in the instructions. At least in mine.

 

Still and all, here's a picture of my go-to pressure cooker when I need to time things (this isn't mine, it's off google, but it my model). I slap it on a Westinghouse Roaster timer and away we go. Regarding food safety, if something which might spoil is involved, I put it in frozen. After all these years, I've gotten pretty good at adjusting the times to reflect the temperature differential to ambient. 

I've also got a '50s 4 quart and two '50s 6 quarts as well as a 'wee-cooker' 3 qt. from the Teflon everything (inside and out) era. It has an advantage of drawing relatively little current compared to the others which Presto explicitly designed to work as deep-fat fryers. The wee-cookery series was, of course, only usable as pressure pans and sauce pans. Parts aren't a problem for any of these.

In fact, there is now an American company making the gaskets for the fry-masters for which Presto (for safety reasons) no longer supplies parts. Silly.