We have an old Pelton and Crane that used to work well despite infrequent use/cleaning/servicing. Lately it has started to take 30 minutes to reach the 'green zone' for temp and PSI, and will often go over the maximum values of the green zone. Then the door latch is super hard to open, but a bit better after we cleaned the whole autoclave thoroughly. Any idea if this is something that we could repair ourselves? Once it is hot, it still works ok, but the drying process while on 'vent' also takes about 10 minutes rather than the advertised 3-5 min in the manual.

We might be looking for a replacement if we cannot fix ourselves, as we have gotten quotes of around $600 with no guarantee that it can be fixed from repair services.

Many thanks for any insight!