How safe is pressure cookers steam on eardrum?
The steam in a high-pressure cooker can get up to 257° F. It’s very easy to scald yourself, and I’m surprised that you didn’t. Unless you were directly smacking your ear with high-pressure, though, it probably won’t rupture. But scald? That could be very easy to do. An approximate one-second exposure to 160° F water will result in third degree burns. Where the water is 130° F, an approximate half-minute exposure will result in third degree burns. This is the reason that the Consumer Product Safety Commission suggests that water heaters be set to a maximum temperature of 120° F, even though an approximate ten minute exposure to water heated to this temperature can result in third degree burns. A safe temperature for hot water is 110° F, which exposure to results in third degree burns in approximately ten hours. Even though this is a “relatively-safe” temperature, exposure to water set at 110° F is painful – the human pain threshold is around 106-108° F. It is important to remember that
