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When a water heater overheats the temperature & pressure (T&P) relief valve lets go and purges the excess hot water and cold water replaces it cooling the tank. If the T&P valve doesn't function pressure builds. This pressure keeps the water from vaporising. When the the tank finally ruptures the pressure reduces and the water immediately turns to steam and assumes a volume much larger than the room it is in. In effect it becomes a bomb.
 
When a water heater overheats the temperature & pressure (T&P) relief valve lets go and purges the excess hot water and cold water replaces it cooling the tank. If the T&P valve doesn't function pressure builds. This pressure keeps the water from vaporising. When the the tank finally ruptures the pressure reduces and the water immediately turns to steam and assumes a volume much larger than the room it is in. In effect it becomes a bomb.
True but for the water heater to explode requires a few things. The T&P valve must be stuck solid (not uncommon )and the heater thermostats must stick in the "on" position (not as common). Also if these two things do happen the pressure does increase but fairly slowly but constantly building. Often this just results in in a weak spot in the water heater or the nearby pipes splitting open and the excess pressure releases. Rarely does the water heater have the integrity to contain the pressure long enough so the pressure builds to the extent that there is a serious explosion. Possible for sure but rare.
 
True but for the water heater to explode requires a few things. The T&P valve must be stuck solid (not uncommon )and the heater thermostats must stick in the "on" position (not as common). Also if these two things do happen the pressure does increase but fairly slowly but constantly building. Often this just results in in a weak spot in the water heater or the nearby pipes splitting open and the excess pressure releases. Rarely does the water heater have the integrity to contain the pressure long enough so the pressure builds to the extent that there is a serious explosion. Possible for sure but rare.
Lets say that both failures happen as you outline. The T&P valve is stuck, probably for years but unknown, then the aquastat locks closed. The temperature goes to 240℉ or higher and the pressure is the only thing keeping the water liquid. If you have a tiny leak you might luck out and enough cold water could conceivably cool the tank to a safe level. If there is a split, anywhere in the system, that drops the pressure in the water heater the water will immediately turn to steam and attain a volume larger than the room the tank is in.

What I describe is very rare but far more common than a CME, that I prepare for. This is not something that I loose sleep over, neither the CME nor a water heater explosion. The vast majority of water heaters will fail due to a leak or they will quit heating. I don't bring up the subject to scare anyone but to encourage proper maintenance. Even without maintenance this problem rarely happens.
 
I have had three water heater failures in my 51 years of home ownership. I have had an electric heating element fail, a thermostat fail and a relief valve fail open. These were all on electric water heaters and I did maintain them. I had to replace one that filled with crud after a water main repair a few blocks from me. I couldn't get it cleared so I replaced it with a new one and intalled a filter between the meter and my tank.
 
was watching youtube and ran across a woman who said she baked an 11 year old cake mix. she said that she ran across it in her pantry and decided to try it. 2leelou said it was good, so did her son. i have some duncan hines cake mixes ,so am really intrigued by this . i vacuuned sealed mine , but she didn't this one. she said best-by-date was 2=2-2006.
 
was watching youtube and ran across a woman who said she baked an 11 year old cake mix. she said that she ran across it in her pantry and decided to try it. 2leelou said it was good, so did her son. i have some duncan hines cake mixes ,so am really intrigued by this . i vacuumed sealed mine , but she didn't this one. she said best-by-date was 2=2-2006.
I have used cake mixes that were past their best by date, and find that they do not rise as well as newer cake mixes do. I think one of the things about older cake mixes is that the agent that makes them rise stops working with age. I think it is baking powder. I think I would be tempted to find a cake recipe online or in a cookbook, and to add a little more of whatever causes it to rise.
 
@Weedygarden and @Amish Heart a quick funny- I don't use cake mixes, always just mix up my own (which is actually seldom) but I remember the first time I made a cake from a mix. I was so nervous! Read all the instructions, got everything out and measured, read instructions again. I was so afraid to mess it up. I believe it turned out, but funny how nervous I was.
 
@Weedygarden and @Amish Heart a quick funny- I don't use cake mixes, always just mix up my own (which is actually seldom) but I remember the first time I made a cake from a mix. I was so nervous! Read all the instructions, got everything out and measured, read instructions again. I was so afraid to mess it up. I believe it turned out, but funny how nervous I was.
I rarely bake things like that myself anymore. We do our family banana bread recipe more than anything else. I had a roommate right out of college who never used mixes for anything like cakes. We didn't use them much at home when I was growing up. Times have changed and baking cakes and such from scratch has really gone by the wayside. I am sure we all know people who do not cook at all. They are the ones with the clean kitchens.

I remember working with several Taiwanese teachers in training. They don't have stoves with ovens there, typically. At the end of the summer, they had used that oven many times and had no idea how to clean it.
 
I'm not sure if this should go here or in canning, but my folks get Polar fruit from grocery outlet. They come in a 3 cup jar that fits a small mouth lid. There are ones that are slightly larger. I'm not sure if it's for a different fruit, but peaches and fruit cocktail should fit. The jars are good quality. Mom saves them for me. I've used them multiple years now and no cracks or worries about them. We like 3 cups for certain things like green beans. A pint isn't always enough and a quart is too much. Anyways, if you need 3 cup jars, you might as well bring them home full of food as opposed to empty.
 
I have a bunch of pint and a half jars and I love them. They make great drinking glasses as well as canning jars.
I love them, too! Those are the ones that I have special lids for, with a hole for a straw. I use them every day now. My local hardware store seems to carry more of them than any other style of canning jar.
 
I love them, too! Those are the ones that I have special lids for, with a hole for a straw. I use them every day now. My local hardware store seems to carry more of them than any other style of canning jar.

No one here carries them. I had to order them online.
 
No one here carries them. I had to order them online.
I'd bet if you ask one of your local places, and show them a jar, or even the box, they would start carrying them. I used to always buy the wide mouthed quart jars, and then I began to have a harder time finding them. That is when I got started with these. They fit in the beverage holder in my car and with the lid and straw, I don't have any spillage. The one thing I want to do is to find or make a sock or sweater type cover for them because of the sweat on them. I am usually not an ice person, but I am using a bunch of it this summer, especially with the new fridge with the ice and water dispenser on these hot days.
 
Years ago I bought all the half pint jars I could find in town. We were canning tuna and needed a lot of them. We did use some pint jars because we had so much fish to can.
I had bought 600 pounds of whole Albacore tuna. We canned tuna for a week. Best tuna fish I ever ate.
I have less than a dozen of those small jars left. Mom gave away fish and like usual never got the jars back. I always try to return the jars when someone gives me canned stuff.
 
Years ago I bought all the half pint jars I could find in town. We were canning tuna and needed a lot of them. We did use some pint jars because we had so much fish to can.
I had bought 600 pounds of whole Albacore tuna. We canned tuna for a week. Best tuna fish I ever ate.
I have less than a dozen of those small jars left. Mom gave away fish and like usual never got the jars back. I always try to return the jars when someone gives me canned stuff.
I would love to have had 600 pounds of canned tuna, before Fukushima. I think canned fish, of any sort, would be a great food storage item.

Most canned fish that we purchase is canned in cans. I always wanted to see or learn that process, just because I am curious about how it is done.
 
We do pretty much like @Caribou but don't add any oil - also we don't have access to tuna so it's usually salmon.
Bingo, fish is fish. Salmon mostly, I don't like canned halibut, canned crab is better than no crab but fresh is way better. Beef, seafood, and other proteins are all cooked at 10psi for 90 minutes for pints.
 
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Bingo, fish is fish. Salmon mostly, I don't like canned halibut, canned crab is better than no crab but fresh is way better. Beef, seafood, and other proteins are all cooked at 10psi for 9 minutes for pints.
It's 90 min though right?
 
This is a post I saw and thought it was worth sharing. It could be much shorter to get the point across, but it is worth it, IMHO.
There is a generic version of Benadryl that is much cheaper than Benadryl. Benadryl does make you drowsy so it can be used as a sleep aid as well.

"For all of us in Rattlesnake country: I have learned something new that I thought was important enough that I wanted to pass on. Our hired man was bitten by a rattlesnake a few days ago. He was getting ready to bale and turned over a windrow to check the moisture and the snake was in it. It wrapped around his arm and bit him on the underside of the wrist. Luckily it was not a severe bite, the fang marks were clear, but not deep enough to draw blood. He came straight to the house and we got ice on it and had him to the hospital within an hour. I called ahead so the emergency room was ready for him. By the time he got there his arm was starting to swell to the shoulder and his throat was getting tight. The first thing the emergency room did was give him Benadryl. Apparently antivenom must be received within 4 hours of the snakebite, but the immediate threat is swelling and death of tissue, which was treated with the Benadryl. The swelling in his arm and throat started going down right away. The anti-venom medicine had to be prepared and was not ready for a couple of hours. He ended up getting two doses of antivenom and spent the night in the hospital, where they drew blood every three hours, but came home healthy the next day and went back to work.
I have always carried liquid Benadryl in all of the pickups because I am allergic to bee stings. After this happened I went out to check my supplies. All three of the bottles I had been carrying behind the seats in my emergency kits had been in there quite a while and had cracked and the liquid was gone. So that wasn’t going to be any help at all if we did need it.
My daughter, who is a nurse, told me to go buy the children’s chewable Benadryl instead. It is given according to body weight, so can be used for adults also, just give a larger dose. She said if you chew it and hold it in your mouth it will absorb just as fast or faster through the membranes of the mouth than from the stomach. The box doesn’t take much room and can be thrown into the glove compartment or saddle bags or a back pack if hiking, etc. Makes sense to me, and it might save a life."
 
Also, they have to test you to make sure you're not allergic to the antivenom. A friend in high school lost her father because he got bit and went to the hospital. They gave him the antivenom without doing the test. He died almost immediately.
I had no idea about the benedryl though. It's not something I keep on hand but might be worth having some in the trailer as we do have rattlers.
 
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