Igloo cooler as HLT

I am finally making the switch to all grain and for my first setup I would love to try a couple of Igloo coolers as my hlt and mash tun with my 10gal kettle for boil. My question is: what is the most effective way to get heated water into the cooler/hlt? Do I simply heat to temp in my kettle and pour it into the hlt or is there a heating device that can be safely installed to bring the water to temp? Thanks

Either can be done but just pouring heated water into the cooler is probably done by 98% of us. Adding an electric heating element to a cooler is cool, but much more expensive and you need the right know-how (wouldn't want to melt the cooler, would you?).

L

Edit: by pouring, I mean use a ball valve on your kettle. Pouring gallons of hot water might not be a great idea.

I use a direct fired HLT but I have read that some folks use bucket heaters as portable heating for igloo HLT's. It seems they would do a good job of heating 5 gallons or so to strike temps. The other advantage is that you could set them up with a temp controller and timer to turn at say 6AM to start heating your strike water, then the temp controller would keep it there until you finish your coffee and are ready to start brewing.