It seems that it always did leak steam through the seal just a little, but I really don’t recall clearly. I’ll have to ask mr. mm if he remembers. We’ve had it a few years already so the memory is vague. I know we get some spitting through the little black pressure relief plug.
I do keep it lubricated with vaseline and tighten down the screws on opposite sides, according to the directions. I use a ruler to check around the lid to make sure the lid is seated evenly.
The place where the steam escapes is always in the same spot, so it tells me that there’s something going on with the pot and not the positioning of the lid on the pot.
I did have a little trouble with the lid sticking at one point. It must have been uneven heating or cooling of the pot and lid. I make sure that the pot and lid are the same temperature when secured so they expand and contract at the same rate. IOW, I didn’t screw down a room temperature lid on a hot pot. That seemed to help the sticking lid problem.
Like I said, so far it has not given me any trouble getting up to and holding pressure. It’s just that the steam escapes through the metal to metal seal and condenses on the handle and ends up spitting because of the heat and it does seem to be getting worse, more steam coming out and more condensation collecting on the handle.
I need to contact All American and see what they say to do about it. It’s probably well past any warranty at this point in time.
have you checked or replaced the rubber seal inside the top some times they go bad