Life after PECO ?

[jceg316]

How are you breaking the elements? If they're kept free of crud during heat-up stages then they shouldn't break. If (for example - not saying you're doing this) you don't stir while wort is coming to the boil and the element gets an insulating layer of caramelised sugars on it then the resulting heat build-up will damage where the wires are attached at the back. This applies to any immersion element.

I didn't stir during heating of the wort, but thoroughly cleaned the element after every boil. What would happen is the IEC connection would melt, and twice the IEC cable welded itself to the element. Sometimes this would happen much earlier than other times.