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That's pretty dumb, yes - I normally turn off the water at the point it runs into the house and then open the hot and cold taps, and do nothing until they stop running. For a "near the bottom" element I'd drain the tank anyway, as water likes to run downhill... 
But most of the ones I've worked on have been "emersion heaters" where you have a single element which screws into the top of a copper tank, with a three or so inch diameter thread. (You can just see the edge of the nut under the black cover: Piccy[^])
These trickle at worst, but...when they get old, the copper gets pretty brittle, and if the nut is a bit "sticky" and you use the wrong tool, or too much elbow grease...you rip the neck off the tank and have to get a new one. 
I've not done that, but a mate did...
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Our water heater has sealed tubes in which the heating elements sit (there are two). This system is so smart, one wonders why it's not the norm. The thermal conductivity of the sealed tubes must be pretty good as I don't experience any lack of response.
I've only ever had to replace one and it was ridiculously easy.
Life is like a s**t sandwich; the more bread you have, the less s**t you eat.
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OriginalGriff wrote: "emersion heaters"
Is that anything like an immersion heater? 
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
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Similar, but yours is correctly spelled. 
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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I was thinking what would happen if Palmer put an emerson heater in a lake...
/ravi
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You may have to lift the carpet and replace the underlay. Foam underlays are notoriously difficult to dry out and depending on what your floor/subfloor material is, mould is a distinct possibility.
I feel your pain. I live in the countryside in moraine territory. As is normal with moraines, there's a huge amount of groundwater and, as is typical in Canada, we have a basement, the basement has a sump, and our sump pump runs about twice an hour. The number of times we've had water in the basement is just not funny. My backup power solutions are a feat of engineering, so I'm optimistic about keeping things dry (of course, there'll be flood now when I get home!)
Good luck on the clean-up. Maybe next time you'll trust your debugging efforts before committing! 
Life is like a s**t sandwich; the more bread you have, the less s**t you eat.
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I had a water meter replaced once.
For some reason the main shutoff value was located under my asphalt driveway (according to city records).
The plumber offered to do replace the meter 'live'. I said OK and got mops and buckets ready.
He spilt about a cup of water. I was astonished and found out in his plumber school they train for replacing valves under full pressure.
Money well spent.
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Reminds of a sig I saw here regarding the cost of hiring an amateur! Wise words.
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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kmoorevs wrote: Now, where did I go wrong?
Do you really want us to answer this?
Welcome to home ownership and to the club.
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Slacker007 wrote: Do you really want us to answer this?
Well, I still can't figure the logic of having a shut-off valve on the hot water side.  Why would I ever want to shut off just the hot water to the faucets/shower? The mistake was assuming that my logic matched that of the contractor, which it obviously did not...lesson learned.
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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Naw, I wouldn't give you the Darwin award. If you had forgotten to turn off the gas, or the electricity (depending), then I'll nominate you myself. 
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You are brilliant for knowing to turn off the main.
And great idea... cleaning the carpets at the same time as fixing your hot water.
You deserve applause for saving the money of using an overpriced plumber!
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Wow Thank You! You CPians sure are a supportive lot! I expected to be (deservedly) berated and abused for such an epic fail, but instead find mostly compassion and help! What a great community!
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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Pualee wrote: overpriced plumber
Is there any other kind?
"the debugger doesn't tell me anything because this code compiles just fine" - random QA comment
"Facebook is where you tell lies to your friends. Twitter is where you tell the truth to strangers." - chriselst
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kmoorevs wrote: I hope it's worth some laughs!
That was a great story and I'm sorry you had such a terrible time for it but I was laughing as I imagined you trying to screw the new element in with the water splashing all over you.
I'm sure it was something out of a Three Stooges episode.
But, again, I know how terrible this kind of thing can be so I only tell you I lauged because you asked for it.
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What's funny was how fast the situation went from:
0) Oh my, that's more than a 'gurgle'
1) This is going to be bad, but maybe I can minimize the damage (if I can just get those threads started!)
2) This is really, really bad and getting worse by the second...and the only way out is just to let it gush uncontrolled whilst I rounded up the wrench and got to the meter.
While it was happening, I'm sure I had a mind-flash of Clark Griswold! 
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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That made me laugh again.
Probably because I've been through similar circumstances.
I've actually changed the elements in electric water heater also. The lower element was bent and no matter how much we yanked and tugged we couldn't get it out. Finally, we pulled it out as far as we could and snipped it with bolt cutters and shoved the spindly piece back into the water tank so we could put the new element in.
That's the cheapskate's way to fix. 
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Well, look at the bright side. You have small piece of carpet that is cleaner.
And the Darwin Award would only be awarded if you had not turned off the (presumably) 240VAC and gotten yourself electrocuted as the water, the wires, and you made a closed circuit. 
Marc
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If that's one of the dumbest thing you've ever done, you're doing pretty fine.
Personally I'm happy to be alive at all.
I once rolled down a ravine in a tractor. Against all odds I didn't even get hurt. The tractor was completely written off though.
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Most of the hot water heaters around here are labled Hot and Cold.
Mine I put Unions and shutoffs on both sides to be able to quickly disconnect the tank for replacement.
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At least the heater wasn't in the roof. Here in South Africa they are usually inside the roof. That would have been a real disaster!
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Remember, only Robinson Crusoe had everything done by Friday.
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Everything? eww! 
"the debugger doesn't tell me anything because this code compiles just fine" - random QA comment
"Facebook is where you tell lies to your friends. Twitter is where you tell the truth to strangers." - chriselst
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