Pressure Cooker "Safety Fuse Plate" Bubbles During Use

Pressure Cooker "Safety Fuse Plate" Bubbles During Use - Upset young African American male freelancer clutching head with hands after failure in project while working remotely in park

I recently bought a 9.5 Quart Tramontina Pressure Cooker for the purpose of cooking dried beans and legumes since I've moved to an altitude that makes simple stove top cooking impractical.

I've only used the cooker twice, and each time, it pressure locks but steam/bubbles continue to come out of the handle (on and off), the manual pressure release valve (frequently) and something called the "safety fuse plate" (almost continuously). Very little steam comes out of the pressure limiting valve from what I can tell.

I am not familiar with pressure cooking, but have done quite a bit of reading and cannot figure out if this is normal or unsafe or really anything. I know I'm not overfilling it and I doubt the pressure is too high. The food does not come out cooked/finished, although that could be due to incorrectly adjusting the times for the altitude.

So my questions are:

1) Is this normal?

2) Does this sound unsafe?

Happy to provide any more information as requested.

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EDIT: After replacing the safety fuse plate, the bubbling continued. I reached out to customer service and they think its probably an issue with the valve itself. If I get a replacement, I'll try the cooker again and update with the results.



Best Answer

Beans and legumes produce a lot of scum/foam (it's a mostly denatured protein mat) while cooking. For a pressure cooker, this can clog your vents (a bad thing). So you want to ensure that not too much is produced. Your user manual should have a section describing the cooking of beans and/or legumes with appropriate instructions.

An example is on page 23 of this manual. To summarize:

  • Don't fill cooker more than 1/2
  • Adding a tbsp of oil per cup of legume can reduce frothing [I haven't tried this]
  • Bring the legumes to a boil and skim the initial scum before closing the cooker



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Why does my pressure cooker keep exploding?

Pressure cookers can explode for many reasons, including being overfilled, using oil improperly, and vents being clogged. These are all preventable reasons by the user. A pressure cooker can also explode due to a malfunctioning or defective part.

Why is my pressure cooker hissing?

When pressure builds to high safety valves open just enough to release excess pressure which results in a hissing sound and a rattle of the wobbler on the lid. In most cases electric pressure cookers are the quietest because they can regulate pressure more efficiently but even a little hiss is normal.

What happens when cooker blasts?

If the water dries out from a pressure cooker, the gas and steam start to expand quickly burning and overheating the cooker. This can result in an explosion. Defective or badly designed pressure release vents may allow the lid to open prematurely causing an explosion.

How likely is it for a pressure cooker to explode?

They can explode, in a sense, but not as violently as you might fear (or hope). The pressure inside a consumer cooker doesn't go above about two atmospheres\u2014about the pressure inside a can of soda. Those levels can be dangerous, but they're generally not high enough to cause the metal to violently rupture.



Pressure Cooker Safety Tips




Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Images: Ketut Subiyanto, Castorly Stock, Castorly Stock, Keira Burton