Well, I’ve been on the phone for three hours trying to find somewhere, someone or some… thing that would be able, or willing, to test my gauge. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Thanks for shopping our KMart.
The Minnesota County Extension Office doesn’t do it anymore. They don’t even answer their own phones anymore. Iowa does! I called every hardware store, mechanic and places like Mills Fleet Farm, Home Depot, etc., None of them do it. Calibration shops will test it but for much more than I bought my canner for to begin with!
Sending the gauge directly to the Presto Company is useless because when they ship it back, all the jostling and bouncing around in the mail negates the testing. If that weren’t the case, the gauge would be fine when I received it in the first place, due to their quality control.
Finally, I called Presto and explained that the state of Minnesota is useless. There IS a home test you can do that they don’t advertise or like to recommend but they told me what it was, so I’ll do that.
You put a quart of water in the canner and put the 15lb weight on it. Let the pressure rise and when the weight does its little jig, the needle on the gauge should be at the 15lb mark. If it’s not, then I need to remember the difference and compensate for it when I do my canning.
It was a LOT of trouble and headache but, in the end, it will be worth every gray hair.
