[goodellj]

Burning out the heating element is easy to do and I think everyone who does their own maintenance has done this. I have. There is an on-off switch at the water heater, and I learned the hard way that when you are draining the tank, turning this switch off should be step one. The switch controls both gas and electric and prevents accidentally heating an empty tank. The electric element burns out quickly in an empty tank, and I don't want to think about what happens if the gas flame is accidentally turned on. BTW, new heating elements are cheap (less than $20), just about any 110 volt heating element will work, they are easy to replace, and an unusually large socket is needed.
PS: The new heating element should be similar in wattage to the old one.