Originally Posted by bearisgray

They do not always seal tightly.

I have learned (again, the hard way) - that I need to do a "test run" and/or soak the gasket in hot water for at least 30 minutes before using my 22-quart pressure cooker.

I should have been "aware" - when steam was pouring out from under the lid - and kept coming out and kept coming out - that it was not sealed properly .

After running two batches of tomatoes - and remembering to soak that gasket - it is now behaving properly. The first batch - I think I took them out too soon. I had run the canner almost dry one year - so did not want to do that again. The second batch - it was behaving better - and after the ten minute exhausting - I carefully turned the timer off and forgot to put the weighted pressure gauge on the lid. When I remembered - who knows how long it had already cooking? The tomatoes are usable - just not as "pretty" as they could be.

I put a note in my cookbook to check first next year before putting jars of tomatoes in the cooker!

The aggravating thing about it - that is a fairly new gasket.

Is anyone else having trouble locating lids? I have some from past years - but a friend told me that she could not find any "anywhere".