Like any kitchen appliance, when buying Instant Pots, you will want to know how long your investment will last. For the wise appliance investor, you may also want to investigate if different models will last longer than others and weigh that up when buying an instant pot.
Instant pots last around six to seven years before the unit needs to be replaced. The most significant source of wear and tear is the silicone sealing ring which will need replacing every two to three years. New rings can be purchased for $13 and easily installed yourself.
A regular instant pot costing $80 certainly isn’t a cheap buy for the kitchen, although most people claim they get more than their money’s worth. A New instant pot also comes with a 1-year warranty to add a little peace of mind. With that being said, let’s explore what can wear out and how to avoid it.
As hinted at, and by a consensus, the sealing ring of an instant pot is the most likely to be the first thing to wear out. The sealing ring is a piece of plastic built into the lid, which seals the unit to ensure air can’t escape or get in.
This is essential to the Instant Pot’s functions, primarily (and probably the main unction) pressure cooking. When using pressure cooking, the unit will fill with steam, and the temperature inside the put will rise to a point unachievable by typical cooking methods.
Being a sealed unit, the steam carrying all the delicious flavors will have nowhere to escape but to infuse back into the food, creating the flavours you want, much faster than a regular slow cooker.
Rod Elmore has a simple and easy tutorial for replacing any instant pot sealing ring:
Due to the nature of silicone and the environment of the instant pots’ high temperature, the sealing ring will naturally wear out. The downfall of needing a fully sealed unit is you will often only know when you should replace the ring once the ring has failed.
Once the ring has failed, your instant Pot will not work until you replace the ring and create a sealed unit again. This is why I suggest keeping a spare silicone ring at all times, as there is nothing more frustrating than getting ready to cook your family dinner and not being able to use your Pot until you find a new sealing ring.
How to make the sealing ring last longer
There are a few techniques to get some extra life.
Cleanliness and care are the best tips to keep the ring intact. We all treat our new appliances like gold dust when we first get them in the house – then, after a few months, your shiny new appliances get bashed around a little more than we would like to admit.
That’s right. With anything technical, electronics can be susceptible to failure, although an uncommon problem. The instant pot keypad can be an issue for some users – sometimes rendering the whole unit useless until the issue is resolved. Often you will have to raise a ticket with instant pot support and potentially take it back for repair. However, there is a little trick I want to share with you first.
If you are having Keypad problems with your Instant Pot, try resetting the keypad:
By holding the cancel button down while powering the unit up, you force the keypad to soft reset, which can clear some issues. Make sure the unit is disconnected from the mains power. While the unit is OFF, press and holds the cancel button, then plug the unit into the outlet. Keep the button held for 5 seconds after the unit has powered on. Then release and check to see if the keypad is responsive again.
How to make the keypad last longer
There is one predominant reason for keypads malfunctioning – Liquid.
The one way to look after, and ensure keypad longevity, is to make sure you keep the keypad as dry as possible. Instant Pot has done the leg work to ensure it is as water resistant as possible. Still, users should try to avoid operating the keypad with wet hands and ensure to wipe the keypad dry to prevent sitting water whenever you can see water building up over the keypad.
The obvious one is usually the last thing you check when something electronic fails—having a little snoop through Reddit and the world wide web. I was surprised to see how many people had issues being as simple as a power cable.
Although it may seem obvious, if your instant Pot has no power, you should first check the power cable going into the back of your Instant Pot. Make sure it’s secured well.
Secondly, check the fuse. Because the instant Pot uses steam, you will inevitably have some water to deal with while the units operate. It’s not entirely wild to imagine liquids getting into either the back of the power cord or even dripping into the front, causing the fuse to trip. Check the fuse works.
Luckily, the issue does seem to be the power supply. You can buy a new cord from HERE for $8. I would personally buy and try a new cord before opening a support ticket with Instant Pot. If you are lucky enough to live in a state that offers fast prime shipping, you could have a new supply before the morning!
How to make the power supply last
The same as the keypad. It would be best if you kept the supply and cord dry at all times. Probably a little more critical than the latter, the power supplies can trip the fuse to the house and create a safety hazard.
Although most houses have new wiring, you shouldn’t take any risks with water and electricity.
In order of probability, instant pots mainly suffer from sealing rings wearing out, keypads wearing out/ having malfunctions, and breaking power cords.
Most of these can be easy fixes, meaning repairs and fixing your Instant Pot are reasonably low-cost. One thing we need to be mindful of when operating instant pots and trying to get longevity out of the unit is to keep it as dry as possible, as most malfunctions occur due to moisture and water damage.
