Pressure Cooker Safety Valve, Very Important Facts

1. Are you sometimes worried that your pressure cooker may explode – leaving you
with a messy kitchen, a possible injury, and some post-trauma symptoms? 😉
If you don’t have enough knowledge about the pressure cooker safety valve –
you may be at risk.
 How does a pressure cooker safety valve work?
 How to prevent it from melting or breaking?
 How do you replace a safety valve?

2. In this post, you’ll learn how to stay safe when you use a pressure cooker, all
about the safety valve, how to keep it working, and how to replace it when
necessary.
 What is a Pressure Cooker Safety Valve?
 How Does a Safety Valve Work?
 What is a Safety Valve Made From?
 How Do You Prevent a Safety Valve from Melting/Cracking?
 How to Replace a Pressure Cooker Safety Valve
 Where to Buy a New Safety Valve
What is a Pressure Cooker Safety Valve?
We all know and love the advantages of using a pressure cooker:
The speed of cooking, keeping more nutrients, the way the food tastes, and the
energy saving.
However:
One of the most common worries when using a pressure cooker is the chance of
it suddenly bursting, leaving you with a mess of a kitchen and a possible injury.
This is why the safety valve is the most important component of the pressure
cooker.
The safety valve is placed on the pressure cooker lid to prevent it from bursting,
by allowing the trapped steam inside the pot to be somewhat released – to avoid
an explosion.
Later in the post, I’ll show you how to keep it from melting, how to avoid
overpressure inside the pot, and how to replace the safety valve when you need to.

3. How Does a Safety Valve Work?
In order to avoid overpressure inside the container, it works by releasing a certain
volume of the gas inside it to prevent it from reaching excessive levels of
pressure.
The nozzle of the valve senses whenever there is an increase in the overall
pressure inside the cooker. When the pressure is more than the predetermined
levels, the valve’s disk begins to lift to allow an outlet for the steam to escape.
Once the pressure decreases, the disk is pushed back into place to close the
outlet.
What is a Safety Valve Made From?
When it comes to the material of safety valves, it can vary but is largely made of
hardened Viton or Neoprene – synthetic rubbers.
When I was a child, the safety valves contained lead. This is not the case anymore.
These materials enable the heavy rubber valves to maintain a certain amount of
pressure and allow the steam to escape in high-pressure situations.

4. How Do You Prevent a Safety Valve from
Melting/Cracking?
A safety valve can fuse when the water in the cooker is too low and the
temperature of the steam is raised high.
Here are the best ways to prevent the cooker from reaching maximum pressure,
and keep the valve from melting:
1. Clean the release valve
Keeping the safety valve clean can help it last for years without failing.
It there are remnants of burnt food on it – splash some hot water on it and then
scrub it out a few minutes later.
If you see some black stains that have built up over time, gently scrub the area
with boiled onion skins or 3 tablespoons of baking soda mixed with water to
scrub off the crud.
For mineral deposits on the valve, use vinegar as it works its acidic magic to get
rid of the deposits with ease.
2. Avoid overfilling the cooker
Some foods (such as noodles, or oatmeal) will swell when cooked, and take up
more space than they initially did.
This is why you should never load the cooker with more than two-thirds full.
These foods may block the release valve and cause too much pressure inside.

5. The safety valve should be inspected before each use. If it becomes brittle or cracked, it
needs replacement.
How to Replace a Pressure Cooker Safety Valve
If the safety valve is damaged for some reason, I recommend that you replace it
as soon as possible. You can replace a safety valve in two ways:
1. Approaching the valve from the outside. You can do that by using a blunt knife
to turn the screw and it will loosen up.
2. Approaching it from inside the lid. Use a tong or a wrench and turn the screw
completely until you can remove it.
Once the old release valve is out, simply insert the new one and screw it in place
and voila! It really is as easy as that.

6. Below I’ll show you where you can buy new safety valves for your pressure
cooker.
Where to Buy a New Safety Valve
We found that the best place to find the right safety valve for your pressure
cooker is on Amazon.
Make sure the product description specifically mentions the brand of your
pressure cooker.
Read: Instant Pot vs. Pressure Cooker
Safety Valve vs. Pressure Relief Valve: What’s the Difference?
The basic difference between the two is:
A relief valve releases the steam by relieving the fluid back into the system, to
the low-pressure side. A safety valve, on the other hand, relieves
the pressure into the air – out of the container.
We hope you’ve found this post helpful, use the comment section for any
question you may have 😍