Immersion heater to help with boil

Hey guys. I'm doing partial boils since my electric stove doesn't have enough power to boil a full five gallons. I've seen people who use something similar to a water heater's heating element to help boil water for beer. I'm wondering if something similar would give me the push I need to do a full boil. Opinions/Experience?

 

Yes, but you should be very careful.

 

Are these the same thing as those charcoal starters I keep seeing at hardware stores?

 

no no no do not use them in water. Heat sticks use the electric element from a water heater.

 

I boiled 6 gallons of water yesterday to test the wort chiller I built. I boiled 3 gallons in the main pot and one gallon at a time in a smaller pot, adding to the main pot when the smaller pot began to boil - in about 30 min I had 6 gallons of water boiling. Not sure why I didn't think of that before, but that'll work! And I have to brag about the chiller's success: I had the 6 gallons of boiling water down to 80 degrees in 25 minutes! Much better than several hours in a tub or the fridge.