Think The Flange Seal Sprung A Leak.

troyamuso

I got a call that the toilet I recently installed was working fine until over the holiday someone clogged it and when they plunged the toilet to clear it water seeped out the back of the base and water showed up on the floor in the basement directly under the drain. Is this caused from a bad flang wax seal? Should I pull the toilet and re wax it? Anyone have any thoughts of what's causing this. It seems like the plunging started the problem. Could plunging accually blow out the seal?

Mike Finley

Was this the dubious flange that was too high and not level?

Pull the toilet and check the wax ring, when you examine it you will probably find it not kosher.

Ron The Plumber

Before you reset with wax, test fit on floor less wax, this will tell you if flange is too high or floor is out of wack.

troyamuso

Mike you have a good memory. I accually re-did the bad flange. I got it perfectly flush on the floor surface before I installed the toilet. I thought for sure I had a good seal. It seemed good till the plunge. everything is level, the flange is screwed flat to the floor on top of the tile. I'm accually shocked that it leaked!! But.....my first time setting a toilet I probably missed something you experienced guys would have cought. The flange sits 3/8" above the floor in thickness. The toilet form give you 3/4" of space for the flange to fit up into. Do I need a thicker wax ring. What do you think??

Ron The Plumber

Make sure flange and bottom of toilet is clean and dry, oh and do not use the horned wax rings, use wax only, 3/8 should be good enough for a regular wax seal.

Mike Finley

Ron, why the non-horned rings?

Ron The Plumber

I have seen these horns cavin causing toilets to catch paper and clog them up, plus there not UPC Code approved.

Alot don't know that these are against code, reason is it creates a reduction in the line, and thats not allowed. Only reduction allowed by code it a 4 x 3 closet bend.

I find using plain wax will give you a more possitive seal.

Mike Finley

Huh! Learn something everyday!

troyamuso

The toilet has shown no signs of a leak since they plunged it. It's been flushed many times with out any leaking. Any thoughts of what's going on?

Double-A

The other reason not to use the horned wax is that it can actually cause a leak. That horn has thickness. It is flanged and sits on top of the WC flange. If you compress the WC to sit on it, the WC will rock and move eventually, especially if you didn't toss out those little crappy washers the closet bolt caps snap onto.

They can cause the WC to loosen over time.

In addition, the horned wax can prevent the outlet horn of the WC from going down into the flange as some are designed to, and keep the WC from sitting properly on the wax seal, causing a leak.

__________________
"My clients’ wishes are the center of my attention." -- David Guido, a contractor in Woodstock, N.Y.
New York Times, July 20, 2006

Double-A

Moved thread to plumbing.

__________________
"My clients’ wishes are the center of my attention." -- David Guido, a contractor in Woodstock, N.Y.
New York Times, July 20, 2006

troyamuso

Thanks, probably a better place to be.

troyamuso

Does anyone have an idea why this could have happened? Any chance the wax resealed itself? It seams strange that it leaked only once. Can a plunger cause a one time leak in the flange seal? Seams wierd to me. But I'm also not a Plumber.

QWIKWHIP

Yes, it's very possible that the extra pressure from the plunger was enough to make it leak that one time, and under normal use it won't. However that still means there is a leak. I would still make the effort to pull the toilet and stick a new wax on there and reseal it.

troyamuso

Thanks for the feedback. Yeah, I figure That's what I need to do. It doesn't feel right to me knowing that it leaked at all, so I have to pull it and redo the wax. I was curios to here if anyone has had a similar situation in the past.

Ron The Plumber

Once the seal is broke it is always broke, wax does not have any memory to it at all.

troyamuso

Thanks guy's.