Glad morz8 could help, I'm just not that experienced, have only PCd a few times. One thing Dave and others here have told people to do was to run a few test batches with colored water to check your stove's settings and see how to adjust to avoid siphoning. I did that, but still had some siphoning with the tomato sauce. I think the Presto person was wrong to tell you to turn heat up and down, Dave told me to just keep it steady or adjust in TINY increments. With the weight set you shouldn't have to worry about adjusting, just try to get it venting, put the weight on, and leave it alone - it's not like a dial gauge where you have to watch and make sure it doesn't go over so it's not overprocessed. If you're doing something like fish that takes a really long time the recipe says to start with more water so the canner doesn't run dry. Buy new lids and use those older ones for something like jam or jelly. "well, i've had my first messy case of PC siphoning with my 4th, and thickest, load of NCHFP's spaghetti sauce in my new presto . every qt. siphoned, but just one failed to seal. i've had 1 or more seal failures in the other 3 loads, too." I don't know, maybe siphoning is more a problem with thicker/denser foods? I think it is with starchier foods. Did you have siphoning with the thinner batches, or just an occasional seal failure (which could be the lids)? Or maybe you just adjusted the burner more on this batch after talking to the Presot rep? Store the jars without the rings someplace where you can see them (and some place easy to clean if one does start to ferment or something), I don't think you need to check daily, but occasionally (maybe daily at first). I really don't know when you can stop checking, but since you want to really eat it within a year for best quality, and mine kept a year even with siphoning, I'd say just check it often this winter, maybe again when spring/summer come around if your storage area might start to warm up. I'd wash the gasket if I had siphoning - I didn't after just running test batches of water. Sorry I can't be more help - I'm still learning myself. Here is a link that might be useful: NCHFP siphoning troubleshooting

Burning the pods is recommended? And the fumes wouldn't contain the toxicity....? BDSV must be different from poison ivy then. The Monarchs is what determined me to do my level best to eradicate all mine (& my close neighbor's). It took me 3 years with a LOT of handpulling, and luckily I never got as bad an adverse reaction as some on this thread. (Just a very mild rash once when I forgot gloves & holding my breath when pulling out the bigger, more mature plants with pods in the very first season.) They are MUCH reduced now, & I never get the pods, but the tiny thin filaments still try to poke up out of the ground underneath some of my other valued plants such as hostas & hydrangeas. Eternal vigilance is needed to fight these dreadful weeds!!

Removing burned-in aluminum foil is going to be tricky. You can try to scrape it off, but that might not work. And it could cause even more damage. If it doesn't work, harsher chemical methods might be needed. In most likelihood, your oven is coated in enamel. That's good. Enamel is immune to acids (but not necessarily bases). And aluminum can be dissolved in acids. I wouldn't do this in the oven, but if you can remove the oven floor, see if you can soak the aluminum in a medium-strength acid. Distilled vinegar (and lots of time) should do it. Or if you are impatient, diluted muriatic acid. Wear gloves and goggles and do this outside. The fumes aren't good for you (for neither chemical). But other than that, the chemicals are comparatively harmless. Rinse with plenty of water when done. Similarly, rinse with plenty of water, if you do get any on your skin. And absolutely don't get either acid into your eyes, of course. The only tricky part is that the floor panel might not necessarily have a good enamel coating everywhere. So, you probably don't want to dip all of it into acid. If there is exposed metal, it is OK to get some acid on it; but you don't want to expose it for hours on end. Maybe, use some type of putty (plumber's putty, playdough, hot glue?) to build a temporary ridge around the affected area and only fill that area with acid. If you live in a sunny part of the country, set the oven floor outside into direct sunlight. The warmer the acid gets, the more quickly it'll work. Of course, while this is a good way to remove the burned-in aluminum, it won't do anything about the warping. And if the enamel is already cracked, I wouldn't recommend this approach. You don't want the acid to seep through the cracks. And in the future, do what others have said and instead of aluminum foil, use a cookie sheet.

Well...so much for the easy fix! It could be too much pipe dope, as you suggested, or it could be some other material that somehow is blocking one of the lines. Unless there is a union somewhere in the line, unfortunately it may be necessary to take the line apart piece-by-piece to get to the problem. With so many bends, I doubt there is any way to "snake" the line. This is strange. The plumber should have checked for gas flow if for no other reason than purging the line. I also think he should make this good at no cost to you. Good luck, and please post again when you've get this mystery solved.