[BB_TX]

From past postings about not working on electric, these are some of the problems I remember being found;
- bad heating element
- bad thermostat/hi temp cutout or burned wiring there
- bad little black switch on the water heater
- bad relay in the junction box on the side of the water heater
- burned wiring in the junction box on the side of the water heater
- bad neutral connection in that junction box
- tripped circuit breaker
- blown 12 vdc fuse to the inside switch

I agree with Zack to start by checking for voltage at the heating element. When checking for voltage there, check both by putting the negative meter lead on the heating element neutral screw and again by putting the negative meter lead on the metal case (which should be grounded to safety ground). The reason for this is because there has been an occasion or two where there was a bad neutral connection in the J box and made it appear there was no 120 vac to the element. But by checking to case ground it was shown that there was in fact power to the element but was missing a neutral connection.

But whether you have 120 vac measured at the element is a good starting point to decide where to look next.