Cooking

This is not really an issue. Check a few things: Is the seal under the lid still in good condition? Does the pop-it emergency pressure release still move? Is the pressure tube that the weight fits on clear and unclogged? Is there a pressure gauge?

The seal, pop-it, weight and gauge for almost any model can be bought on Amazon or eBay for less than $15 as a set. So as long as the body is in good condition you can replace every other part for almost nothing compared to buying a new canner. An older gauge can be tested and calibrated at your local extension office.

Is the body in good shape? No dings, dents, warped bottom? Do not buy a cooker with any of these problems.

All the canners at second hand markets made it to the second hand market after being used and they didn't explode.

It takes a ridiculous amount of effort to try and explode one old made in the last 60 years. Find the make and model. That will tell you when it was made and if there was a recall.

Stick with the name brands, Mirro, Presto, All-American.

I've included a lot of things to check for here to avoid this issue but I want to stress that it is almost impossible to blow up a pressure canner. I have four of them. I have followed canning groups for a long long time. I've seen exactly one explosion and that was because someone tried to open a canner with a failed lid lock before the pressure dropped. This resulted in the contents of the jars suddenly expanding and hitting the ceiling. Not the canner exploding, it was the food in the jars. And that was easily avoidable by just waiting.

I own four pressure canners. Only one was bought new. The rest were from yard sales and thrift stores. I'm not happy with the deals on the Mirros but they still do the job. I have no issues buying used cookers or canners.

I avoid all electric ones. Not for safety but lifespan. The electronics will fail. The more feature that have the faster they will fail. They have incredibly limited capacity. When they fail they are trash. You can't repair them. A manual canner will last you a lifetime and if any part of than the body fails you can replace it for cheap.

Side note, All-American doesn't have a seal. So you can ignore that.ake sure the screws move nicely. Be happy you found an extra expensive canner that will last forever.

Bonus material: canners and cookers are different. You can cook in a canner but can't can in a cooker.

Bonus bonus: If you get an aluminum bodied canner and you use it for canning instead of cooking, you will start to see a thin black patina develop on the inside. Do not try to clean that out. It's aluminum oxide, fine layer of sapphire that will protect the canner from the inside. The darkness is your friend.