I felt I needed a fan and controller in the beginning of my KK journey. I needed the comfort that I could sleep all night and not worry about the KK or meat. However, the cords, electronics, etc. seemed to cause more stress. In the beginning, I also had issues with consistent burning lump in long cooks. I started filling my charcoal basket with lump as well as a chimney. I let the chimney coals get ripping hot and then poured them over the charcoal basket. I've NEVER had any issues since. I now do this method to assure I have a solid coal base to keep the KK going for a long time. I now sleep like a baby during overnight cooks. In fact, the last one I did I almost forgot I had something on the KK when I woke up. Lol.
One other drawback of a fan was that it blew ash all over inside the KK.