Melly, I'm remembering the conversation we had last season about that three-piece weight. I got mine nearly 30 years ago from Presto. At that time they specifically listed it in their canner manual as an accessory. It's intriguing that sometime later they quit recommending it, though as far as I know they've always offered the part, and now they're back saying it's OK again. Strangely enough, my All-American canner came with just that set-up, a gauge and a three-piece weight. They state specifically to go by the weight and that the gauge is just a visual reminder, nothing more. I've been fortunate. The Presto weight and the gauge have always been in sync, but if they weren't, like you I'd trust the weight since it's been machined for accuracy. I do like having the gauge, though. Carol

thanks to all who tried so nicely to be helpful. my husband spent hours checking over the oven, he reset clocks by unplugging, etc etc and finally brought the element to a repair shop to 'test' it to make sure it was the bake element. we bought a new one and even had baked chicken last night .. yummy. tiskers, i dont have a photo at this point. however, cooking with it has been just wonderful and kinda fun, too. seeing the heat under one's pots is encouraging, i guess. cleaning the top is astoundingly easy since it is a flat surface. i spray vinegar usually to keep it clean. sometimes when a pot overflows, i might use the scrubbing product the machine came with cause those burned on areas can be difficult to clean away. however, i believe the heat you use the next time you cook burns off that area so again it is clean. thanks again everyone diane :-)

Stowy, In most places for $3,800 you could get a nice fireplace insert like an Hampton HI300 and a stainless liner installed, (ballpark). I'm biased to the Pacific Energy brand and would also suggest you look at a PE Summit insert, which might even be less. There are obviously other brands as well. Two things to note: first, virtually all new wood stoves have glass windows, nice for atmosphere and you can monitor the condition of the fire much better. Secondly, stainless flex pipe will not burn out in two years unless you misuse your stove and have a lot of chimney fires in it. It is the mainstay of the industry for most relines. Interestingly, I had almost exactly the same quote for my fireplace. One reason it is so much is that most fireplace flues are 12x12 or bigger. There is much more stainless steel in a 12x12 square liner than a 6" round liner so the cost of the product is much higher. I just bought my own 316Ti stainless 6" liner for $300 and insulated it and installed in about 4 hours with some family helping out. This is going into a wood stove which I put in my fireplace. I thought about an insert but stole a nice used stove at a yard sale for $75 and fixed it up for $50 of parts and paint. I bought $40 of unfaced ceramic blanket insulation, $35 for a stainless mesh wrapper and $5 of foil to tidy up the ends of the insulation. So I'm safely burning in an as good as new stove for just about $500 but as my name suggests I am a New England Yankee skinflint. It is a fairly easy thing to do if you are relatively handy but not everyone likes getting on a roof. A lot of stove shops in my area charge about $1,000-$1,200 for a reline. I would suggest you look at doing a hearth mounted wood stove if you have the room but be mindful of clearances to a mantle if you have one. You'll generally get a bit more heat from a stove than an insert. Also inserts have integrated blowers which need electricity. If the power goes out, it is nice to have a stove which can convect more heat. Good luck

amazon has them. Ace hardware can order them for you if you have one. Presto makes it quite complicated to deal with the whole process so we generally do not recommend ordering it from them. The part number if you need it is 50332 https://smile.amazon.com/Presto-Pressure-Canner-Regulator/dp/B000HMBVQ8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1467304758&sr=8-1&keywords=Presto+3+piece+weight+set Also be sure to review the How to use a PC guidelines at NCHFP as they often differ from the instruction manual. http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/uga/using_press_canners.html