ah...good point Kyle. Well, I could also go the route of buying a hot water heater thermostat, which would also be on the cheap, but unfortunately they aren't very accurate and only step up the heat in 10-20 degree increments. The ones I had in my hand had a max of 170F....it had switches that I believe went 120F, 130F, 140F, and 170F....something like that.
Might just have to contend with a breaker in the short term then, until I either come up with something else, or break down and spend hundreds on a controller.