Help - my pressure canner is shrieking at me!

The last two times I’ve canned, when the pressure has gotten to around 6psi on the dial it starts making whistling noises. The first time this got really really loud and high pitched, and it alarmed me, so I took it off the heat and did a search on it and came up with a few things to try.

I checked the water level, and that seemed fine. The second time I added more water just in case.

I checked the gasket (and took it off and put it back on again) and that looked fine.

I checked the pipe where the regulator goes, and that didn’t seem to be blocked.

I changed the weight to 15psi to 10psi for the second time around, in case it was an error with the dial.

I definitely vented it for longer than 10 minutes the second time.

I don’t think I was using too high a temperature either time. It’s on the cast iron plate of a wood stove. I’ve previously successfully canned on this many times before with no issues.

First time this happened, the popping-up thing popped up while it was still venting. This didn’t happen the second time.

The second time, I kept moving it on and off the hottest part of the stove as soon as it started whistling, because I didn’t want it getting any louder.

The canner is a Presto one, with the optional 3 piece regulator as well as the dial gauge, it’s the newer model with the stainless steel base.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to resolve this?

Also, a question about water level - is the optimum water level more to do with the level it comes up to on the jars? or the amount of water that's in there before you put jars in? When I put a few inches in to begin with, it was nearly to the top of my 7 quart jars, so I took some out the first time, as it seemed too high.

If it were my canner, I'd say the water here is high calcium, and I'd soak the lid in vinegar, to see if it helps. It's not fully blocked, but sounds like it's constricted somewhere. If you have high calcium water, try vinegar. If not, can you soak the overnight so it loosens whatever it may have? I'd also suggest fire it up with no jars in it for testing.

Are you using the same temp on the stove as usual? If you are doing wood fired, did you switch to a batch of hotter wood?

As far as water level, I put about 1.5 inches in the bottom, and let the jars cope with it as they want. If i put too much it comes out spitting. I can't imagine that is a good thing.

Shrieking canners is not a good thought!

Also, do not try to can up shrieking eels! That might be the problem :D


Although they ARE big, lots of good meat on them...
:D

Pearl Sutton wrote:If it were my canner, I'd say the water here is high calcium, and I'd soak the lid in vinegar, to see if it helps. It's not fully blocked, but sounds like it's constricted somewhere. If you have high calcium water, try vinegar. If not, can you soak the overnight so it loosens whatever it may have? I'd also suggest fire it up with no jars in it for testing.

Are you using the same temp on the stove as usual? If you are doing wood fired, did you switch to a batch of hotter wood?

As far as water level, I put about 1.5 inches in the bottom, and let the jars cope with it as they want. If i put too much it comes out spitting. I can't imagine that is a good thing.

Shrieking canners is not a good thought!

Thanks, I will try soaking the lid overnight and see how it goes. That's a good idea about running it without jars to test it.

The wood at the moment seems pretty average, nothing super hot was in the firebox the last two times I've canned.

Maybe your heat was too high?  Lower the heat and se what happens?

I see you mentioned that though I still feel the heat was too high.

It also seems to me like an obstruction in the vent would cause the whistle, but I'm not sure why hard water deposits would get up there since the water passing out is by nature distilled.

From the instructions:

Hold the cover up to the light and look through the vent pipe (Fig. D) to be certain it is clear before
placing the cover on the canner. If it is clear, proceed to step 9. If it is blocked, clean the vent pipe and
vent pipe nut with a small brush or pipe cleaner (Fig. E and Fig. F).

That makes it sound like the vent is a straight shot, so you should be able to inspect it for crud, scale, or other irregularities.

Has the lid been dropped?

Also, it looks like they have reasonable replacement parts if you need to go that route: https://www.gopresto.com/product/vent-pipe-assembly-85608

Pearl Sutton wrote:If it were my canner, I'd say the water here is high calcium, and I'd soak the lid in vinegar, to see if it helps. It's not fully blocked, but sounds like it's constricted somewhere. If you have high calcium water, try vinegar. If not, can you soak the overnight so it loosens whatever it may have? I'd also suggest fire it up with no jars in it for testing.

All of this is what i would suggest too. i don't have high mineral water, but occasionally (and i have no idea how) things may get stuck within the weighted cap, or the emergency valve. My cooker is not a canner, so the anatomy may be different, but on mine if anything starts acting weird i take off all the gaskets, plugs, weights etc and soak it all, take a toothbrush to the screws, and make extra sure there's nothing in there interfering with a good seal.

Success!

I did the soaking and cleaning and that didn't work, but then I got some pliers, got hold of the popping up thing, and unscrewed it, then took the little gasket off, washed it, put it back on again, put the whole thing back on the lid, very firmly screwed it back, and now it works fine, although it's a little dodgy, I have to wiggle it a bit to make sure it gets fully pushed up, otherwise it doesn't pressurise properly, but once it's up, it works fine and I managed to get some bone broth canned without any trouble so am very happy to have it working again!

Thank you all so much!