Abstract: The heating element is made of a plurality of silicon carbide rods, at least four rods being employed in the heating element. The hot ends of all the rods are connected together by a single silicon carbide bridge member. The other (cold) ends of the rods are arranged so that at the current input side two rods are in parallel and on the output side the other two rods are also in parallel and the two pairs of electrically parallel rods are connected in series electrically at the silicon carbide bridge member. The rods are preferably arranged in a square configuration and preferably extend perpendicular to the bridge member. Accordingly the rods can be inserted in a silicon carbide tube closed at the hot end. The interior heating rods are electrically insulated from the silicon carbide tube.