Don’t forget that almost the entire interior of the KK is transferring energy to the water. My suspicion is that the fire from the KK base would put more BTU’s into the water due to the concentrated draft. But I’m not a thermal guy, I’m a static and dynamic vibration guy with a tribological background…It seems to me that a regular pot of water with more surface area directly exposed to the fire would be much more efficient.
Interesting discussion, I can see the benefit of not standing over the KK feeding it, as enjoyable as it is to do so.