Best and Easiest Way to Remove a Gamma Seal Lid

I'm changing the way my food storage works.  We have less people home, now, so the gamma lids would be better on  4-gallon buckets instead of the 6-7gallon buckets. Getting the seal ring off the bucket, though?  Having struggled to remove Gamma lid seals and failing, I thought it nigh to impossible to remove them.

 

I thought maybe Youtube would have something. It did.

I found a video  

Easily and Safely Remove a Gamma Seal Lid from 5 gallon buckets

That got one Gamma ring off one bucket, horray!  I'm grateful for his technique, but his method was still a struggle -- I guess he has strength in his fingers I don't have.  The seal rings on other buckets would not even budge with this method. (Incidentally, notice how he puts the Gamma rings on the bucket with a board across the top.  I think that is inspired, but I would put a towel between the bucket and the board.)

I include the video because I used his technique AFTER I did what I'm about to describe, and it worked like a charm.

I asked Heavenly Father to help me figure out how to get the lid off, knowing He would know. (Ya'll y'all know, right, that God is willing to help us with everyday tasks if we just ask and do our part?)  I saw in my mind's eye a blow dryer and knew immediately what He meant.  So, I put the blow dryer on the hottest setting and pointed it,  very closely, right at the side edge of the Gamma ring on the bucket. Then, I used the other hand to rotate the bucket round and round for several minutes so the entire side of the ring got warm -- it needs to be done long enough to heat up the whole ring. I quickly put on heavy gloves, put my foot in the bucket to hold it down, and using the technique in the above video, used a large spoon to pry the seal off gradually, working around the lid.  Use your fingers in the hand not holding the spoon to pull up firmly where you just pried with the spoon -- THAT is why you need the gloves. :)   If you have heated the ring long enough, it will likely only take a few prys and pulls up to get that ring moving.   It is amazingly easy with the blow-dryer added in!   A blow dryer is a great tool.

If this doesn't work, try using the blow dryer longer or shifting to a different position.