How do you separate two pots that were put together to form a double boiler?
Charlie from grantham, NH
Reheat the bottom pot and put icewater in the top pot while heated. They should pull right apart. (07/18/2006)
By Craig
not sure this would work but try putting them inthe freezer (07/19/2006)
By Diana
Just yesterday, I had that problem with my canners that I had stacked together to store for the year. I sat the bottom pot in the sink of very hot water and used the sprayer and spigot to put cold water in the top. They came right apart!!! If I had thought of that in the first place, I would have saved two fingernails and quite a bit of frustration. (07/19/2006)
By Margie Minard
Craig and Margie, that worked. Thanks so much I was really struggling with two large pots inside one another. Great! (10/30/2008)
By Millie
Thank you so much. I have tugged and pulled, broken two screwdrivers and put pans in hot water with ice in the top. None of that worked. I have been working on these two pans for over two years. I put ice in the top one and put the bottom one on a burner with low heat. Within two or three minutes, I heard a pop and I was able to get them apart. Now I can use them for my holiday cooking! (12/05/2008)
By Mary
Thank you for the tip. I tried the ice cubes in the top boiler and put the pot on the stove on low heat. It took a few minutes, but I was able to finally get them apart. Thank you, thank you, thank you. (12/20/2008)
By Bev
I was just curious about this as I had a friend that just a couple of days ago dodged a bullet. They had the same situation where the pots were stuck together and did the ice in the top, heat on the bottom. They did it wrong. The steam in the bottom caused such pressure that the top pot shot out and hit the ceiling. The pot was embedded in the dry wall and broke some of the ceiling joists. If you are going to try this, I would try the ice in the top and let it sit and then put the bottom in a tub of hot water, if this doesn't work, then I would be extremely careful, if that is even possible. Had someone been above the pot, I am pretty sure there would have been a severe injury if not death. Thanks for listening.
(02/13/2009)
By Jackie
Yikes! Jackie's post turned me away from the method. I was attempting to free two 4-quart pots stuck together. Thanks! I'd tried cooking oil, etc., etc., until somebody suggested WD40! Worked like a charm! (Gotta wash the pots really well after that, though.) One problem was getting leverage on the side of the pot away from the handle to "walk" it loose.
Don't use a screwdriver or chisel! I used a treated 18" 2x2 scrap that happened to be cut at a 45 degree angle, plenty of strength to grip the pot rim and no scratches. Could even use a hammer on it without hurting the pot, but didn't have to with the WD40. Glad to have our pots back! (11/05/2010)
By Len Bowman
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My two pots were stuck inside in a cooker. There was dal trapped inside the lower vessel. When they became cold, I put oil on the joining edge of the two pots and put the lower part on gas. After 5 minutes of heating, upper vessel got forced to jump and got separated from the lower one.
I followed instructions reheating both pans. While getting the ice water to put in top pan there was a loud explosion sending the top pan to the underside of my new microwave before hitting the ceiling and landing across the room with water floor to ceiling. No cracked floor tiles, hole
In Ceiling or damaged microwave and pans separated !!!! Haha
Clay pots, solidly stuck together at a slight angle, so one upper edge of the smaller inside pot was caught against the rim of the larger pot.
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