Draft King Stainless Steel Multi-Flue Chimney Cap Review

Does your chimney have more than one flue? If so, you could measure each flue individually and cover them with single-flue caps. Or, if you’re after a more convenient and aesthetically pleasing solution, you could cover all your flues at once with a multi-flue chimney cap.

At HY-C, we manufacture thousands of multi-flue chimney caps every year. We make them in a variety of materials and sizes. But in this guide, we’re going to take a close look at our Draft King Stainless Steel Multi-Flue Chimney Cap.

We’ll cover the sizes in which this cap style is available, how much they cost, best practices for installing the cap, and more features.

By the time you’re finished here, you’ll have all the information you need to decide whether a stainless steel multi-flue chimney cap is right for you.

Table of contents (click to jump to a section):

1. Sizes
2. Heights
3. Prices
4. Installation

Discover the Draft King Stainless Steel Multi-Flue Chimney Cap

Draft King Stainless Steel Multi-Flue Chimney Cap Sizes

While single-flue chimney caps mount directly onto a chimney’s clay flue tile, multi-flue caps are installed on the chimney’s crown — the concrete portion of the chimney that rests on the top row of brick. This means you’ll have to measure your chimney’s crown to find your multi-flue chimney cap size.

The process can be a little confusing, because there are two ways to measure multi-flue chimney caps:

1. From screen to screen
2. From flange to flange

The screens are the cages that make up the body of a multi-flue cap. Additionally, each cap comes with mounting flanges along the cap’s base that add another 1-¼” to all four edges of the cap (adding a total of 2-½” to the cap’s screen-to-screen dimensions).

The table below simplifies the measuring process. It includes the screen-to-screen dimensions of each Draft King Stainless Steel Multi-Flue Chimney Cap and the minimum crown size compatible with each size. The table has done the math for you, leaving out the flange-to-flange step:

As an example, let’s say your chimney crown’s dimensions are 20-½” x 39-½”. The closest minimum crown size in the table above is 20” x 38”. That means your crown needs a stainless steel multi-flue cap with a screen-to-screen size of 17” x 35” (model number BT1735K).

Draft King Stainless Steel Multi-Flue Chimney Cap Heights

Length and width aren’t the only measurements you’ll need to take when choosing your multi-flue chimney cap. You’ll also need to measure the height of the tallest flue tile.

Each chimney cap has a hood on top of it. It acts as an umbrella, shielding your flue from rain and snow. Yet as important a feature as this hood is, it’s vital that it not be too close to your flue tile. Otherwise it will compromise your chimney’s draft, inhibiting smoke and other flue gasses from escaping the chimney.

To account for this height problem, Draft King Stainless Steel Multi-Flue Chimney Caps come in three heights: eight inches, ten inches, and fourteen inches.

So, which height do you need?

In order to maintain a proper draft, it’s important to leave at least six inches of space between the top of your flue tile and the hood of your chimney cap.

Say the tallest flue tile on your multi-flue chimney sticks out six inches from the chimney crown. To provide six inches of additional space, your cap will need to be twelve inches tall. In this case, you should choose a cap with a fourteen-inch height.

Draft King Stainless Steel Multi-Flue Chimney Cap Prices

The following table contains a range of prices you can expect to pay for a Draft King Stainless Steel Multi-Flue Chimney Cap based on the screen-to-screen size you need:

But why is there a range, and why is the difference between the low and high end of the range over $100 in most cases?

That’s because the price of the cap you choose depends on three factors:

1. The cap’s screen-to-screen dimensions
2. The cap’s height
3. Whether or not the cap has hinges

The first two points are pretty easy to understand. A bigger, taller cap requires more raw materials to fabricate and comes with a higher cost as a result.

On the third point, the flanges of some styles of Draft King multi-flue caps come with hinges on them. These hinges make installing the cap on angled or uneven crowns much easier.

These hinges add yet another step to the manufacturing process. This means styles with hinges tend to be a little more expensive than their non-hinged counterparts.

Draft King Stainless Steel Multi-Flue Chimney Cap Installation

A multi-flue chimney cap installation is complicated. Even for relatively experienced DIYers, the process may be better left to a professional like a roofer or a chimney sweep.

After measuring the chimney’s crown and finding the right cap size, the first step is to assemble the cap. After that, the cap should be set on the crown, and an outline of the cap should be traced along the mounting flanges.

The cap must then be removed from the crown and set aside. Next, a thick bead of adhesive material (included with the cap) must be applied around the perimeter of the marked line about an inch inward (toward the flue tiles).

After that, the cap should be set back down on top of the adhesive and pressed into the crown to bond with the adhesive.

Next, a 3/16” drill bit should be used to drill one 1-½” hole into the crown through each of the four mounting flanges. Finally, four masonry screws (included with the cap) should be drilled into each of the four holes to complete the installation.

Should You Get a Draft King Stainless Steel Multi-Flue Chimney Cap?

From sizes and prices to the installation process, this has been an in-depth look at the Draft King Stainless Steel Multi-Flue Chimney Cap. You may be wondering, though — should you get one of these caps for yourself?

If you have a chimney with two or more flues, a multi-flue cap is the best chimney cap solution to ensure a good, consistent draft and an aesthetically pleasing look. Whether or not you should get one for yourself, though, depends on four factors:

1. Whether or not your chimney crown is the appropriate size
2. Whether or not your flue tiles are the right height
3. Whether or not the cap is within your budget
4. Whether or not you can perform the installation (or hire a professional to perform it)

If your chimney crown isn’t compatible with the stock lengths, widths, and heights of these multi-flue caps, you’ll have to opt for a custom chimney cap instead.

If the installation process seems like more than you can handle, you may have to opt for multiple single-flue caps instead.

But if the dimensions match up, the price is right, and you feel confident in performing the installation, a Draft King Stainless Steel Multi-Flue Chimney Cap is a secure, tough, visually appealing chimney cap style that will last on your chimney for decades.

Interested in a more budget-friendly multi-flue cap? Take a look at our Draft King Galvanized Steel Multi-Flue Chimney Cap review. It’s a similar cap made of a less expensive type of steel that will likely prove a little easier on your wallet.