Here's an update...............
I brought the damaged boiler to Coolspring with me where our own CrazyDoug brought it home with him to extract the damaged heater unit with his large socket and impact driver that all good electric heater servicemen keep handy. Doug returned it to me the next day (Thanks again, Doug!) with the heater loose but not extracted.
It seems that during the overheating, the element changed shape by twisting and bending until it resembled a couple of pretzels that of course will not fit through the hole to remove them. I was grateful nonetheless to Doug for getting it loose for me. Over the weekend I decided it was time to do something productive with this boiler. First tries were attempting to get a large screwdriver in there to bend the element back into a shape that would allow it to come out. In less than a half hour I learned it was not coming out this way. Then I laid a piece of 5/8 or 3/4" round stock steel across the end neext to the heater head to use as a fulcrum point for leverage. With a pry bar, wood, and a bigger piece of steel I was able to force the thing to come out a few more inches. This was a bit difficult but working well..... right up until the point the element broke off just a couple inches from the threaded head.
What next....? I clearly was not able to remove the old twisted pretzel of an element. I turned the boiler over a little less than half way to try to get the old element to settle as far as possible from the plane the new element would require. With a small light I could see the path was clear all the way to the other end. I was then able to thread in the new element and check for leaks. I also cleaned and retested both of the safety relief valves. Then I put pressure to it. No new leaks. One safety begins opening gently at 70 psi and the other pops open all at once at 80 psi.
The new heating element is not quite as strong as the original which was 1400 watts plus. The new unit is a 240 volt 5500 watt element and you could expect about 1/4 of that on 120 volts. It was actually a little less than that. At 117 volts with my watt meter it drew 1200-1250 watts which is more than enough to have fun with steam!
Gil