Google is no help. All hits are about dealing with a lid that’s too tight. The lid will turn in either direction without getting any looser or tighter, and the button doesn’t pop up. Are there any tricks to get it open without breaking anything?
Do you need to re-seal it?
If not, poke a hole in the lid, and see if it will come off.
But, I would guess that the vacuum seal is bad, and the contents are compromised. I’d toss it.
What kind of jar? Something like a pickle jar - glass jar with metal lid? Plastic jar with plastic lid? What’s in the jar?
If the lid turns without anything popping and with you being able to remove the lid then some threads have to be damaged. It may be required to brute force it in some destructive manner.
I don’t think poking a hole in it will help. It’s just a regular sauce jar, the kind with a"button" in the lid that pops up when the seal breaks. I don’t think the seal is bad, because the “button” relies on vacuum pressure to stay down. If air gets in, the button goes up, and won’t ever go down again. There has to be something going on with the threads, because I can turn it in either direction and it just turns - not fast, I can feel pressure, but it never get looser going counter clockwise or tighter going clockwise. I’m just not sure how I can apply brute force without breaking something and ruining the contents.
If there is still vacuum in the jar, poking a hole in the lid will release the pressure, and allow you to put upward force on the lis while you turn it, potentially allowing you to engage the threads.
Is there a seal over the mouth of the jar? Lids that I have trouble removing have a security seal on them and the lid doesn’t come off normally because the overhang of the seal allows the lid to spin without unscrewing. I turn it counterclockwise then pry the lid off to force it past the plastic seal. Removing the seal allows the lid to be screwed on as normal.
Hmmm…maybe try sticking a butterknife under the edge and give it a twist to deform the lid a little and release the pressure or maybe cause it to grab on a thread? That’s what I do all the time with a lid that’s too tight to open, but maybe it will work in this case, too.
I hadn’t thought of that, but it sounds promising. I’ll have to try it. It’s more of a challenge rather than a need to save the sauce. It’s just a cheap store brand.
I think the button isn’t popping because it has already popped. It would be unusual for the lid to twist without compromising the seal.
It’s pretty obvious when it’s already popped. When the “button” pops you can push it back down, but it pops back up when you let go. That’s how you test it.
Personally, I’d just take the jar back. I’d be too worried something is wrong with the contents inside.
It’s obviously a defective lid. Which makes me wonder if it was ever properly sealed in the first place.
Seems the OP is more interested in opening it than getting a replacement that is known to be good. IN that case, there’s a test to see if the lid is defective at keeping a seal.
When you do poke that hole in it (not in the middle, BTW), does the button pop up?
Take the jar back to the store. Tell someone there that it’s defective. It’s not worth opening as it is. Let the people at the store figure out what happened. It’s their job to sell you a good product, not yours to waste time with figuring out what the problem is.
Incidentally, when I have problems opening a jar (the first time I open it), what I do is flip the jar upside-down. Bang it down on a flat surface. Don’t bang it so hard that you risk the jar breaking. Don’t bang it on a surface that you’ll damage. Then flip it back upright and twist it open. The banging should break the vacuum seal.
Use a church key, bottle opener, etc. and pry out the edges of the lid, that should break the seal if it’s not already broken.
I had tried a churchkey/bottle opener earlier, but it was too small to reach around the rim of the lid. Last evening I hunted for an icepick to punch a hole in the lid (plan B was to use my electric drill) and found an old can opener with a bottle opener built into the handle that was big enough to grab the lid. When I pulled on it there was a resounding pop and with the suction gone the lid came right off.
OP: have you had any other weird issues opening jars?
This may be a bit late, but this has happened to me before with several plastic peanut butter jars. Lid came off (ie threads caught/worked) when I pulled firmly upwards on lid as I turned it. Seems that the threads were not catching due to a manufacturing defect of the threaded jar (as beowulff is saying).
Same thing just happened to me. When i poked a hole in the lid, the seal broke and the lid came right off! Dinner is saved, thanks for the suggestion!
I’ve been using a Jar Key like this for years.
Pops the lid to allow air entry and the lid turns right off.
Note, folks, that this thread is from 2018. If the OP hasn’t solved the problem by now, it probably doesn’t matter.