Tower 14922 6 L Stainless Steel Pressure Cooker

This is my third pressure cooker in about 25 years and yesterday, the second one, also a stainless steel Tower model, bit the dust when I dropped the lid on the floor and the handle broke. Coincidentally, that's also what finished my original Prestige one off when it broke for a second time so it's not a Tower problem specifically. Anyway, this mishap confirmed once again, the only problem I have found with Tower cookers and that is the lack of availablity of spares. I searched the web in vain for a supplier of the spare parts I needed and had no joy. Tower themselves, don't even appear to have a website! However, it seemed from the price of other spare parts advertised, that even if I did manage to locate them, the price was likely to exceed twenty pounds and I guessed correctly that would equate to a big chunk of the cost of a new one. Indeed, since receiving the new one today, I notice the instructions say that there are no user replaceable parts and that if it's a problem not covered by the guarantee, you have to send the cooker back Tower for a repair estimate. With postage and labour costs, I doubt it would ever be worth it.

So, I decided to start again from scratch and buy a new model. One thing I learned a long time ago, is that you need to replace the gasket every so often as it gradually goes hard. I haven't kept any accurate record, but I'd guess this happens for me every 18 months or so and I use the cooker once or twice every week. I discovered years ago that the Prestige gasket for their stainless steel pressure cooker is the same diameter as the Tower one (24 cm)and works perfectly. This is just as well as there are two shops in my local town centre that keep Prestige pressure cooker spares in stock but no Tower ones.

With the spare parts issue in mind, I first looked at the Prestige cooker but found a number of user reviews complaining about build quality. Then I looked at the Tower one and the reviews were much more favourable. So, I decided to stick with the Devil I know and ordered the Tower one from Amazon at about 4.00pm yesterday afternoon, opted to pay extra for next day delivery, and received it at 9.30 am this morning. It's just a slightly redesigned version of my old one and apart from the spring loading on the safety catch, works exactly the same. Since the Prestige branded gasket on my old cooker is only a few months old, I decided to try it with that. I've given it a fifteen minute test run with plain water at No 2 setting and it worked perfectly with zero leaks. I'll keep the new gasket as a spare and hope I remember I did so when it needs replacing. Coincidentally, I'd already bought the meat for todays dinner and its something I normally use the pressure cooker for. I'm all set to go now.

So I'm very happy with the cooker, and very happy with Amazon's delivery service. I would score it 5/5 if it wasn't for the fact that I know spares aren't as readily available as for the Prestige model. As it is, I'll give it 4/5 as I'm sure this will last me the rest of my life if I can just avoid dropping it on the floor.

First pressure cooker I have owned for a long time, The last one was a Tower. I am pleased to say that they are still as good as they were then, Easy to use and does what it says on the box.
Thank you

Excellent pressure cooker, light, quiet and simple to operate.
Probably like many others, put up with Prestige for years as it is the so called premium product. So many leaks and failures. "Lifetime guarantee" is a waste. Thank goodness the last one has gone to the tip.
Buy a Tower. Simples!!