Heat exchanger aluminum pots over fire

Sorry, I posted about the wrong subject.
Deleted.

I am far from a metallurgist, but just checking off these two I would say its fairly risky.

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/melting-temperature-metals-d_860.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire#Typical_temperatures_of_fires_and_flames

I haven't but…

If you were just using it to boil water then it should be fine. The water in the pot will keep it the fins from getting much hotter than 212F (so long as the fins stay attached…).

If you were trying to say fry a fish…then it might be a problem.

My SWAG (scientific, wild-A guess, which is an engineer making a WAG) is the same as James'. And I'll quote the old Mug Root Beer ad:

"The cheetah can run at 60 mph. You can not. The trick to training a cheetah to play fetch is to throw a meatball as you say 'fetch'. Never run out of meatballs."

Never run out of water at the height of the fins, and you'll probably fine. There are very high-energy transitional species, unstable compounds that are part of what propogates a flame front, that exist in a flame. A flame is a lot more extreme environment than the corresponding temperature of hot air. But that's also true in a butane, propane or white gas flame. The soot of a wood fire would slightly insulate the fins and make their temperature slightly closer to the pot (i.e. boiling water) temp compared to a clean gas flame.

I would venture to say the tips of the fins will melt.

but not melt on top of a canister stove?