My Presto canner is about that age but definitely not like "brand new" LOL. Here's an abbreviated checklist from rec.food.preserving's FAQ to run through for your canner: 1. Check the rim to make sure there're no nicks and that the locking tabs aren't damaged. 2. Check the rubber gasket and the rubber safety pressure release. (The plug in the lid.) Discard if cracked/hardened. For your own comfort you may choose to replace both before beginning the canning season. They're quite inexpensive. Or you may want to order them and keep for a back-up. If they're hard to find in your area it's good to have them on hand. 3. If there's a pressure gauge it needs to be recalibrated. If you don't have/can't find an Extension agency in your area that tests gauges, you can mail it to Presto. Here's a link to a previous thread with contact information: Presto Gauge Testing Address. And here's the rec.food.preserving FAQ I mentioned: Pressure Canner Maintenance. There's been lots of previous discussion on this Forum about canning on flat-top stoves but the search engine is idiosyncratic: Canning and Flat Top Ranges. Flat Tops and Pressure Canning? The National Center for Home Food Preservation offers a self-paced online (free!) course in canning. It's a great way for beginners and also those wanting a refresher to polish their skills. NCHFP Preserving Food at Home: A Self-Study. I hope this helps. If you get going now you'll be all ready by tomato season to can those tomatoes and maybe a batch or two (or three or four) of Annie's Salsa. Carol P.S. Canning may be a lost art in some parts of the country but it's a long ways from dying out. Kind of like Mark Twain who said reports of his death had been exaggerated.

You'll find the discussions on hard water problems in the Causes and Solutions for Problems sections at NCHFP linked below. Hard water is primarily a problem with pickling where is causes cloudy water and discoloration problems. It isn't a risky thing per se, just an undesirable appearance issue but it can be avoided by using bottled water if your's is especially hard or you can boil the water first for 15 mins. then let it stand covered for 24 hours and skim off the residue. That will remove much of the hard minerals in the water. Adding a good 'glug' of vinegar to the canner/PC water eliminates the build-up on the canner and the jars and you can use either Lime Away or CLR to remove any build-up deposits in the canners. Vinegar works too. Dave Here is a link that might be useful: NCHFP - Problems

Are you planning to stack pints? I got the 23qt but wish I had gotten the 16qt instead (that comes with the weight set at Walmart). It's hard to get quarts out of the canner with my range hood - at least the large burners are in front, otherwise there's no way I could use the 23qt. If you do plan on stacking pints, get the spare rack (unless you have an old one to use). I got the spare gasket (comes with overpressure plug) as well when I ordered the weight set. Ace had the best price on the parts, though I got the PC from Walmart online (came with a dozen pint jars, best price at that time - last Sept - for combo).

A smaller canner will come up to pressure and drop down faster. However, any canner that can hold 4 quart jars is big enough to safely meet current standards. AFAIK, the Mirro 12-quart is the smallest that will achieve that. Stacking jars won't make any difference, so if you have just enough jars for one layer I wouldn't fiddle with stacking. I have the All-American 21.5. It's a great canner. Be aware (as I discovered) that not all pints can be stacked. If you look at Ball pints versus Kerr pints you'll see a difference in height. I have both kinds of jars and if I want to do two layers in that canner I have to think about which jars I prepare because two layers of tall pints won't work. My old Presto, on the other hand, no problem because it's taller and narrower. Don't get me wrong. I love my All-American, but if you're routinely stacking jars you might consider an even bigger size. If you only occasionally stack jars or think you might, then the additional cost might not be worth it to you, especially if you have shorter Kerr pint jars. Carol