What's wrong with my stove?

Question

We've got burners that flop between partially-lit states, mainly by starting like

after being on a while, switching to

sometimes some of them do this, and then we stop using them

What's going on?

Answer 1

Electric coils that are that uneven I would replace, sooner rather than later.

I have personally experienced the end of an oven element when one of the "hot spots" burnt through and it was happily arcing away. Fortunately I was in the kitchen and noticed it right away so I could shut things down, as it did not trip the breaker.

I have read of the same thing on a stovetop coil burning a hole through the bottom of a pot.

Fortunately they are generally quite inexpensive. I would replace the whole set, myself.