water wont boil!

I don't usually get a good boil unless my stove top is at 500 or so.
Think about your kitchen range - you don't boil water on low, you do it on high (or at least medium) heat. Same deal.

heat is transferred to the pot and I imagine a lot of the heat dissipates and can only get the metal pot so hot

Looks like your referencing your flue temp, not your stove top. Thats actually getting kinda cool from the old smoke dragon. Especially referencing so low above the flue collar. 18" up and 450-500f on single wall will give you a better stove top temp that will boil your water.

We are at 12F as I type. Just watch out for those creosotes at those temps,...especially if your wood is not well seasoned. ;-) When ya upgrade to the new cat model, these temps will be fine for a clean burn.
N of 60

does the pot sit flat or does it wobble if you wiggle it? if its sitting flat it will make more contact (more surface area) if it wobbles only a small surface area touches so heat transfer is limited taking a higher overall temp in the stove to heat the pot enough to boil the water

actually thinner bottom will heat up faster , thinner metal allows faster transfer. thicker bottom allows more even cooking due to more control of temps when cooking on a regular cook stove. dutch ovens and stock pots (the good ones) have thicker bottoms for that reason.

The evaporation is carrying the heat away--if you lidded it, it would boil. If you want to humidify, you already are.

I have struggled with this too. I've bought those smoke dragon steamers and can never get steam to visibly flow out the holes despite getting 500 - 650 degree stovetop temps. I want more of an obvious boil and rate of humidification going on. Would be nice for making soup or slow cooking a briskett too.

I've only been able to get water to boil once on our 30NC, but I don't try that often. The stove was really cranking and it was just enough. I suspect if you came up with a lidded pot which was insulated on the sides and top it would work better.

Put a few drops of water directly on the stovetop. If they dance and boil, it's hotter than 212F.

A watched pot never boils.

Our problem has always been that water boiled too easily and fouled our stove top...finally cured it with the use of a trivet. Great for warming soups and chili. Maybe you could move the pot over the center of the door...pretty sure that's the hottest part of the stovetop.

I agree with covering the pot.
I had an early non-cat blaze king princess and it was not a great heater like the later cat models. The heat went straight up and out the stack, and radiated little into the room. It only worked well when overfired, and the stove burned out as a result. The evidence is in cracks around the door frame, poor door seal and desentigrated firebrick. The cat models that came later were entirely different animals, putting the heat in the house, and little goes up the stack as waste.

I have one of those decorative water pots for the top of the stove and when it is boiling the stove is cranking hot or the pot is almost empty. Most times you cannot see steam or see it boil but the water needs to be refilled. As someone else said if you want to add humidity to the air it is working if the water is disappearing.

ONe reason that you cant see the steam very well is that it will dissipate very quickly into dry air. Air at the same temperature with a much higher relative humidity level would be much easier to see the steam linger into the air.

Use

A

Lid

As long as the water is going away, it has helped the humidity.

Stove top temp. does not translate directly to boiling water. You need to figure the BTU's needed to bring that volume of water to a boil. And, you need to get those BTU's to the surface area of the bottom of the pot.

Why don't you move your meter to the stove top so you can actually measure your stove temp? The temp you are measuring it the exhaust pipe and is only somewhat related to stove top temp. For example, I can have 1000 degree flue temps and only a 200 degree stove top. To measure flue gas temp correctly that meter should be 18" above the stove so you need to so something.

My stove top needs to be past 500 before I even see the tiniest bubbles on the bottom of the kettle. The kettle has a lid with lots of holes and steam is rising which no doubt cools the kettle.

Glad you got it to boil, now you know that you can sterilize nasty water.

Just to make it clear - water boils at 212 degrees at sea level. It has no choice. If it's not boiling the water is not 212. There's nothing fishy or funny going on with your stove.