My dad's stove has a three arm support that sits under the element, but on top of the drip pan. My sister believes he left the burner on and it became bent. I think he wiped a spill and couldn't get the support to lay flat so he took a wrench and bent each arm in the same position to make the element lay flat. When she asked about it, he picked up a small wrench close by and straightened out the arms. She placed the element in the groove and put it back together. Could leaving the burner on get hot enough to cause the support to bend uniformly in a sideways fashion? It seems more likely that it would collapse downward if melted rather than purposely bent with a wrench sideways.
