do you have a camping stove? If so try putting a pint of water in and bring it to pressure out in the garden so that it can't ruin the kitchen if it's dodgy. Chances are, far from exploding, if it's old and warped, it will dribble water round the gasket and won't come to pressure. I find you can't tell from looking at the gasket if it's OK or not. Replacing the gasket helps a lot.
My Prestige is now 27 years old and still works and I love it. However new Prestige cookers aren't as well made and they are European style with only two weights instead of 3. So I bought an identical model on Ebay which had never been used so that I would have one when/if my old cooker was no longer usable. It made me realise that my old one was showing its age although it is still good and comes to pressure etc - I just need to twist the lid a particular way to get a good seal. One like yours from earlier years might have the same sort of quirks if it has been in regular use and even if it hasn't it is unlikely to have the easy pressure release of later models.
I'm a real fan of pressure cookers but I would recommend looking out for a Prestige Automatic on Ebay like this one
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PRESTIGE-AUTO ... 554wt_1185.
I never use the timer but the automatic pressure release is a godsend. This was the top of the range model before they hit trouble and went bust. Only problem is that they only made them in aluminium. Later models came in stainless steel but they had a funny Rise'nTime mechanism which I don't find so foolproof.
It would probably be safe this model to use for low acid canning although I did get a proper pressure canner from the US. However I did some research on it and it's not so much that smaller pressure cookers can never get to an adequate temperature to kill botulism, it's more that they haven't tested and can't guarantee the timings - since the heat up and cool down times are all part of the total processing times. However if you are at sea level you only need to heat up to 10lb psi pressure according to all the canning info to get the internal temperature high enough to kill botulism spores so using the 15 lb weight should ensure that the internal temperature gets sufficiently high. All the timings seem the same no matter what size of canner you are using. However, as I said, I wimped out and bought a purpose built pressure canner
I don't know Alleycat, I've always been afraid to invest in one after hearing the horror stories. Hopefully someone with a bit more experience will be along later to offer sound advice!!!
