I turned on the power before filling a 2 element ge sold by rheem. We get hot water but not much at a time, I checked the wires to the bottom element and they are hot the connections to the top are not.
Can I assume that it is the element that is burned out?

nope, only one element comes on at a time.

however you could safely bet you have cracked one . is there possibly a reset switch that popped

ok thanks. it does seem that the hot runs out quickly though. It is a 40 gal and it runs cold after a 10 or so min shower.

I tried resetting the reset button but Im not sure it worked it didnt click or anything

I think if you wait long enough with your multimeter, you will see a switching of volts, that still wont mean you didn't cook an element, Id check amps after the volts switch

10 minutes of hot water out of a 40 gallon heater may be all you will get this time of year.
rule of thumb is that you will get approximately 70% of the capacity.

Since the power was turned on before the tank was filled, check the dip tube on the cold side to make sure it didn't melt.

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Links to the State of Wisconsin Plumbing Code:
[docs.legis.wisconsin.gov]
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I am not a plumber.
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quote; nope, only one element comes on at a time.

But that does NOT mean the elment is not burned out. Power to the element does not tell you if it is USING that power, only the proper test equipment call do that. The upper element SHOULD have burned out first, and then you should not have gotten ANY hot water. Since you do get some hot water, the elements may be damaged but partially working. We would have to test both elements to see what damage was done.

check amp draw vs rating

Check amp draw on each wire on both circuits, because a bad element can draw more current on one wire than the other.