My heater element has gone bad again and was going to just replace the element itself instead of the whole tube with the element already inside of it. I have an old tube from a earlier replacement and I can't seem to get the element out of the tube. Is it o.k. to bent the element a little to get the old one out and the new one in? I sure would like to replace the element only and not the whole unit. thanks in advance for any help.

they can be tight, and as long as you don't bend it too much you will be ok