broken off heating element

[soma]

I recently was replacing a heating element in a fairly new hot water heater that had been turned on without water in it. As I was unscrewing the damaged element, I heard a clunk. When I pulled it out I saw that most of the element had broken off. It seems that the element was almost completely burned through and when I unscrewed it, it fell and clunked on the bottom of the heater.

I'm wondering if there's any problem with just leaving the broken piece in the heater. I assume there's no easy was to remove it.

 

[journeyman]

If you have the lower element pulled shine a flash light in and see if you can see it. You might be able to hook it with a coat hanger. It should not cause any problems if left in as long as it is not touching the new elements

 

[havasu]

You may be able to get one of the mechanic's helpers that have the spring loaded fingers to assist with grabbing the broken element. If you can't remove it, it will sit at the bottom of the tank and cause no harm generally.