In article om, Davis
Salks
says...
snip
I often hear coments about element age as related to poor performance.
This confuses me because older elements actually run hooter than new
ones. This is because their electical resistance decreases over use.

Why would the resistance decrease with use? I'd have thought the
element would slowly oxidise or vapourise, thus increasing its
resistance. I can see that the element itself may run hotter (smaller
surface area = less heat dissipation) but not that it will produce more
heat - indeed the hotter it gets the higher its resistance and the lower
the overall power output.
I expect there'll be a physicist along in a minute to put me right.