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foragedfungus



Registered: 09/30/13
Posts: 1,849
Loc: out there
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old autoclave
#23350634 - 06/16/16 11:02 AM (7 years, 7 months ago) |
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I just grabbed this sterilizer on craigslist for $89! The ad had been up for a month. I had only ever searched for "pressure cooker" before, this was the first time I tried "autoclave". It came out of an old doctors office.
She was trying to convince me to buy the x-ray machine to go with it!
Came with a basket, trivet, and z shaped spacer to hold the basket off the bottom of the pc. I tried it out (before buying) and brought it up to 12psi. Seems to work great. There are a few parts that will need replacing. The trivet is a bit corroded, two of the plastic screw handles are broken (but the metal nuts inside of them are fine) and the control knob is missing (but you can still turn the piece that the knob clips onto). The name on it is D.A. Kadan. I can't find much info on them. It seems like the same thing as an (old) All American 50x. An old post from shroomery member Agar said "Kadan Co, bought them from AA & put their name on them. Then, sold them double what AA charged."
 The thing is, I'm not quite sure how to operate it. (just the electric part, I'm fine with the PC aspect, I have a stove top AA sterilizer). If anyone has any experience with old autoclaves like this one, I'd appreciate some help. The dial seems to be a timer? How do I change the temp/pressure? What if I want to run longer/hotter cycles?
One other thing that's different, where the rubber blow out plug is on a newer AA, there is a screw valve of some sort. Anyone know what this is/how it works?
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PsilocyBen17
Pin Pornographer


Registered: 10/20/13
Posts: 3,751
Last seen: 1 year, 1 month
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that thing looks dope! congratulations man. Hope it works out for you...
Here is a thread by RR on pressure cooker vs autoclaves
Quote:
RogerRabbit said: You don't want an autoclave. Get a pressure cooker. Autoclaves tend to suddenly dump pressure at the end of the cycle. This leads to loss of moisture and broken jars. RR
https://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/23280254#23280254
There might be a way to disable the timer once you take it apart.....are there any sort of weights that come on the top? I'm not really understanding where the pressure comes from.
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foragedfungus



Registered: 09/30/13
Posts: 1,849
Loc: out there
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Instead of a weight it has a stopcock valve. On my other (also very old) stove top AA, the valve is either up (open/venting), or down (closed/sealed). and you control the temp/pressure by adjusting the heat on the stove. It seems like this one has a spring built into the valve. So that it functions like a weight.
I'm running it right now. The stopcock is letting out little sputters of steam, holding the pressure at 17psi. And the heat is just staying on. I wonder if there is a way to adjust the tension on the spring to achieve higher/lower pressures.
I've had to turn the timer dial back twice already. Even if it's not as "set and forget" as a new model. It still requires less babysitting than the stovetop one. And I'm sure my girl will appreciate me moving another aspect of my hobby out of the kitchen, and into my mushroom-room.
Maybe I'll look into replacing the timer with a thermostat. But for now it seems to be working!!!
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