IP disaster: liquid "spilled" into housing

[KootenayCook]

 

I was making onion confit the other day. After slow-cooking the onions in duck fat and duck stock for 14 hr., I wanted to reduce the liquid before finishing the onions off in the oven. So I got out a bowl and a sieve and took the inner container out of the IP to make it easier to pour.  Then I got distracted talking to my wife, not that I'm blaming her. The next thing I noticed was liquid all over the counter: I had put the sieve on the IP and strained the onions into it. (Fortunately, it was cool and unplugged). Now, the IP documentation warns against immersing the IP in liquid. "The housing has electronic components and should never be immerse [sic] in water.Doing so will damage Instant Pot permanently. The housing can only be wiped clean." (http://instantpot.com/portfolio-item/after-purchase/#toggle-id-20).  I was therefore wary about just plugging the IP in again, but didn't want to just throw it away.  So I had to investigate. 

 

Removing the bottom plate was easy (one screw to undo), and inside it actually looked pretty good.  The control board was clean and there were just a few splashes of grease here and there.  The inner pot has two drainage holes; one is just visible at about 1:30 in this pic and the other is below the control board and not really visible in this pic.  The back of the control board is protected by a plastic base.

 

But I wanted to check the back of the board, and to do that I had to remove a few screws and connectors:

 

 

Most of the connectors have little flanges that hold them in their sockets. Getting them to release required a lot of probing with a very small screw-driver, accompanied by a fair amount of swearing.  Below is the multi-pin connector, which was the hardest to remove.

 

Once that was off, the control board could be removed without disconnecting any more wires (which had proved recalcitrant, in any case).

The back of the control board was clean, as was the inside of its plastic base, which I removed next. The back of it was coated in duck fat.

 

 

Finally, I removed the plastic ring around the base of the IP.  It housed the socket for one end of the power cord, but this snapped out easily.

 

All the plastic pieces I had removed got a good wash in hot soapy water.  I cleaned up the rest of the hardware as best I could with paper towels and cotton swabs.

 

Then I put it all back together (thanking myself for having taken that initial pic).  I replaced the inner pot, added some water and ran the "sauté" function for a couple of minutes until the water started to steam.  Then I turned it off, put on the lid and ran a "soup" function with pressure for 5 min.  There was a bit of smoke that I attributed to residual duck fat (It smelled culinary.), and which only lasted 15 sec. or so.

 

Huge sigh of relief.  Having gone through all this, I think it was probably not absolutely necessary, but there might have been a bit more smoke and smell.  It was worth doing for the peace of mind, though.

 

And the onion confit turned out fine.

 

 

[Okanagancook]

Well done bro.

you'll love the onion confit

[FauxPas]

I would share your tale with the IP people in Ottawa. I think they like to know how resilient their product is but, if I were them, I might just offer you a new pot. You have done some inadvertent testing of the pot's limits and demonstrated your love for the product. It might be just fine going forward but I would at least talk to them.   

[weinoo]

I have trouble replacing batteries in a remote control.

[chromedome]

A great little tutorial, should anyone else have a similarly warranty-voiding incident. 

[lindag]

10 hours ago, KootenayCook said:

 

 

Huge sigh of relief.  Having gone through all this, I think it was probably not absolutely necessary, but there might have been a bit more smoke and smell.  It was worth doing for the peace of mind, though.

 

And the onion confit turned out fine.

 

 

Bravo!!!   

[Anna N]

I seem to recall someone here attempted to boil eggs without using the removable pot. Can't remember who it was and  I don't know if the Instant Pot ( or the poster) survived the experience. 

[ElsieD]

7 hours ago, weinoo said:

I have trouble replacing batteries in a remote control.

 

@weinoo Are you related to my husband?

Edited September 12, 2017 by ElsieD (log)

[KootenayCook]

11 hours ago, Anna N said:

I seem to recall someone here attempted to boil eggs without using the removable pot. Can't remember who it was and  I don't know if the Instant Pot ( or the poster) survived the experience. 

 

The drainage holes are large and any water would drain out immediately and would be impossible to miss. The control board is protected from liquid draining out by its plastic base; so it should not have been damaged, and the IP should have been OK.

[Anna N]

 Apparently this happens all too often!   Haven't done it yet  but that's no guarantee that I won't. 

[lindag]

I've discovered that the IP gasket (as well as the gaskets of my other PCs) retain the odors of strong smelling ingredients.  Recently I made Red Beans and Rice and the IP gasket still smells of it over a week later.

Yesterday I took the gasket outside and hung it in the sun which seemed to help some.

Next I'm going to try the trick that another poster (tropicalsenior, I believe) used, to PC some lemon and leaves (no leaves here) but I will try with just lemon.

[robirdstx]

51 minutes ago, lindag said:

I've discovered that the IP gasket (as well as the gaskets of my other PCs) retain the odors of strong smelling ingredients...

 

I was having a similar issue, but now I just add the gasket to the dishes in the dishwasher and no more odors.

[KootenayCook]

2 hours ago, lindag said:

I've discovered that the IP gasket (as well as the gaskets of my other PCs) retain the odors of strong smelling ingredients.  Recently I made Red Beans and Rice and the IP gasket still smells of it over a week later.

Yesterday I took the gasket outside and hung it in the sun which seemed to help some.

Next I'm going to try the trick that another poster (tropicalsenior, I believe) used, to PC some lemon and leaves (no leaves here) but I will try with just lemon.

 

The article Anna linked to suggests buying a second, different coloured, gasket, using one for savoury, the other for sweet.