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The Instant Pot Mess

This morning Vince dug around in his tools and found a screw driver or whatever it’s called that opens the Instant Pot.

Vince: How much rice did you put in here?
Me: 1-1/2 cups.

Instant Pot

He couldn’t understand how pouring rice in there, even without the insert, let it all come through the electronics. He said “How did the water come through the bottom?” I told him . . I don’t know. I just poured it in and it came out. He was sure that could not happen. I said “Pour more water in and watch it!” Nope . . didn’t want to do that.

He’s pretty appalled at the design. I’m figuring . . that’s why there’s an insert! Somewhere on the paperwork, it probably said “Do not pour anything into the pot without the insert!”

Rice in the Instant Pot

The more he looked at it, the more frustrated he was that the design didn’t have some kind of shield in there because, as so many readers mentioned, I am not the first person who has done this.

Vince:  Can you imagine what would have happened if you had poured water in there?
Me: I did. Two cups.
Vince: Oh, no. Thank goodness it wasn’t plugged in.
Me: It was plugged in.

Then I got the lecture on how I should not plug things in until I’ve made sure they’re ready to use . . just in case something like this happens. Yep . . OK. Got it!

Vince: Can you imagine how many women do this and then throw the pot away and order another one without ever telling their husbands.
Me: Yes! That was the first thought that crossed my mind!  🙂

Now he’s writing them expressing his thoughts on the safety of this design. They will probably write him back and tell him his wife should knit more and cook less!  🙂

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. I did this too, when I first got my pot, with quinoa. Fortunately, I realized before I out the water in. I was a still getting grains of quinoa out of it a year later. I finally “killed” that pot when I used it to pressure cook something without to silicon ring in the lid. It didn’t achieve pressurization, but the steam got into the front electronics and shorted them out. Not fixable 🙁

  4. Just follow any of the instant pot facebook groups and there are countless accounts of people doing this. I have two inserts and when I take one out, I put the clean one in, just so I do not do this. I agree, terrible design, as well as using plastic for the bottom. There are countless accounts of people melting the bottoms!

    • Just curious – how does one burn the bottom of the bottom of the pot, unless it is because you put it on the stove and accidentally turn the stove on. It’s a good idea to put the second insert in if the other one is in use.

      I checked for pressure cooking accidents and found a story that a person put a towel over the steam vent to reduce the steam splatter. tI sounded like she moved the towel and removed the black venting thingamajig. Severe burns… I guess that I still remember the old pressure cooker that Mom had and I am very careful around the electric one

      • Yes, you guessed it – put it on the stove and accidentally turn the stove on. I have a trick for that too. If I put it on my stove (usually when I am venting it and have my hood on), I put it on a cutting board and that way if I accidentally switch the burner on, it will not melt my IP.

  5. Just dump out the rice and any remaining water, turn it upside down & let it dry out for a few days. Put it back together and try it out. As long as nothing shorted out it might work. When the kids where young they spilled a glass of water down the back of the TV right into its innards. I quick pulled the plug. I thought it would never work again and told them to just leave it shut off. They’s have live without TV. Came home from work about three days later & both of them were sitting there watching TV. Apparently water just dries out & sometimes things work again. A friend told me that doesn’t work when the liquid is juice or pop…too much of a sugary, sticky mess. Imagine that!!! LOL

  6. Sure am glad I don’t have one. Hope you’ve made Nicole aware of this “little” flaw in the design.

  7. Wouldn’t that be a hoot if they did write back and tell him his wife should just knit more, LOL.

  8. If I would have done that, there wouldn’t have been any waiting to get the correct screwdriver. I melted the bottom of my IP and when I smelled the smoke, I blamed the neighbors thinking they were burning their stinky garbage again. I had it sitting on my cooktop and pushed it to the back and must have bumped the knob. It still works just fine. I thank you all the time for convincing me to buy a pressure cooker.

  9. Is it fixed??? (Seriously, you and Vince provide Dan and me with so many chuckles!! I’m always reading a post to him. You give us so much fun! Thank you!!)

  10. I hope they write back and say his wife shuld be yarn shopping and if he was cooking it wouldn’t have happened. Hopefully he’ll get a response and a new cooker or at least a credit towards one.

  11. How funny. But I think he is right! One of the things I like about my power cooker is the inside is solid! It says to not put anything in without the insert though. I am not going to try it without the insert! I can see how this could happen though.

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