On Wed, 02 Sep 2009 06:13:21 -0700, NT wrote:

Had the pleasure of a warming sight today, a replacement oven element
on fire. Even had fancy pshhhh sound effects as something or other
repeatedly exploded at low pressure.

I saw an over-top ring do that once as a kid, fascinating to watch.

When buying an element, is there any way to increase the odds of
getting one that will last a decent length of time?

Not sure, but probably not. Ours are over 30 years old and have never been
replaced. It's probably a bit of a lottery, unless of course everyone's
cut corners and they're all crap these days :-)