Yesterday the web site was either offline or so slow as to be unusable for the day The server, which I believe is located in London, overheated. The people responsible for looking after the data centre deployed a crack team of idiots to sort things out.
Just close the support ticket and we can have our tea break.
“It’s fixed now and all systems nominal” they said, closing the support ticket. The CPU disagreed, 93ºC is not nominal. Reopen the ticket which is like going to the back of the line at the checkout or the queue for a ride at Alton Towers.
Eventually it was really sorted and stable – but a stressful day getting there.
Batch Cooking for the Freezer
Because I wanted to be inside from the rain but not sitting at the PC getting frustrated, decided to do a bit of batch cooking for the freezer. I tend to use our Prestige Hi Dome pressure cooker for volume cooking. It’s fast and energy efficient. Potatoes take just 6 minutes so the times on the handle remind me, although in fairness that’s after it’s hit pressure which can take a while depending on load etc.
I can’t remember exactly when we got it but it has to be near 50 years ago. Val’s never used it, she’s scared of it. This goes back to her dad making a stew in a pressure cooker when her mum was in hospital. I think he must have overfilled it and the valve blocked. The safety valve blew and the contents came shooting out of the hole. When the meltdown ended, the kitchen was covered in stew. From ceiling to floor and all between.
I love my Prestige Hi Dome pressure cooker
My new old Prestige Hi Dome Pressure Cooker is en route
I love the pressure cooker though. However, even I’m not perfect. I know, shocking isn’t it? I didn’t have as much water in the cooker as I thought and the contents burned on the base. Not too badly, it was easy to clean up with some wire wool and elbow grease.
The problem wasn’t that it had burnt on food, the problem was the base had bulged. I think it overheated and, being under pressure, started to balloon a little. Not repairable. It’ll never be the same. Now this is a bit irritating as it rattles on the cooker top and rocks on the worktop. What concerns me is that the bulged base is weakened. I don’t think it’s really dangerous but if it did blow….
Considered the range of pressure cookers and multi-cookers on the market and remembered when we got a new, improved food-processor. Been wishing we still had the old one ever since.
So onto Ebay where I ordered another vitage Hi-Dome pressure cooker for £35.00. It’s had some use but so long as the base is flat, I’ll be happy. You can still get spares for the range, which speaks to its lifespan.
People are obsessed with the new. The latest mobile, PC, whatever. Fact is that if something does the job well then its age doesn’t matter. My 67 year old secateurs still work well enough to keep them.
Would you believe, my pressure cooker actually has a best-before date? Seriously, stamped into the lid-edge “Do Not Use After 2019”. I never realised aluminium had a use-by date! Purchased way back when … But still going strong, many years of sterling service canning (Kilner jars) of just about anything that can be canned at this time of year.
That’s just weird – I can’t see aluminium weakening with age but may be possible. It does oxidise but I can’t see that in the kitchen.
I have an old Prestige pressure cooker as well and I also damaged it while batch cooking which led to the base warping. It works as usual but feels unsafe rattling and wiggling. I did replace it but the new one isn’t as good as the old one. I wonder if some sort of metal ring could be used to keep it stable on the hob. But I hadn’t thought of the walls weakening and exploding. That is a scary proposition.
Well my £35 new old Hi Dome from Ebay is great – looks like it might have been used once. I expect a repair on the old one would cost more than that if I could find someone able to do it.
Back in the day when Prestige were a big uk name they must have sold shed loads of High dome pressure cookers, with the trivet and three veg cooking containers they must have had loads of bulging bottoms! Being aluminium they were prone if overheated, but they did a roaring trade flattening the bottoms so it was easy to repair.
I cannot recall what happened to ours but it was replaced 25 years ago with a Swiss stainless steel one, never had any issues since with the base. It is much heavier and as we have got older it is too heavy fro my dainty wife.
I actually ran the kitchenware dept. of a department store in the early 1970s. We stocked a lot of Prestige equipment but I don’t recall a customer ever complaining. Had no idea they could be repaired if the base bulged. I think (it’s a long time ago!) they made a stainless steel Hi Dome and they certainly made coloured enamel versions. Very trendy but more expensive than the plain ones.
In those days we thought ‘Are you being served?’ was a documentary! 🙂
As a former service engineer in electronics & telecommunications frequently came across equipment that had overheated due to poor ventilation, especially during the summer which was partly due to locating the equipment in small rooms or cupboards. Lesson not learnt!
As for the pressure cooker, they are a time saver for cooking & all 3 get used over Christmas 1x hi dome 1x standard 1x small (7lb) upgraded by the manufacturer to 10lb as spare parts are no longer available. £17 for new parts & an easier to calculate cooking times.
I am sure manufacturers service your cookers but don’t quote me a visit to their websites needed.
https://www.towerhousewares.co.uk
https://www.prestige.co.uk/collections/spare-parts
Our server is in a farm, sitting in a rack and the cooling is water based apparently. Strange how they leap into action when faced with ‘can we have a refund for the unused portion of the annual prepayment as we have to move to get a working machine’
One thing I find reassuring with the Hi Dome – if the power goes and the gas stops, we can cook a full meal quickly on the woodburner. Disaster planning!
We have same only use now for making soup boiling beetroot. Hope you get on ok with new one
Take it to a car body repair center.
They might be able to panel beat it flat again.