This is a how to replace a toilet seal video which takes you through the steps to replace your old wax ring or replace with a Danco or Fluidmaster brand of toilet seal.
I've used the FluidMaster twice. About 6 years ago and just recently about a week ago for a new toilet I just put in. I am just a homeowner, not a plumber or professional. Went on easy and they work great.
One thing I have learned over the years and no licensed plumber will tell you because they don't do it is coat the bolts with never seize. Years later you can remove the nuts without any problem at all. I use it on anything exposed to water and weather or heat.
We installed a Danco Perfect Seal. Our flange was on top of our flooring, as most have recommended, removed the blue gasket and black liner inside the lower gasket and it still wobbled. We ended up using a standard wax ring (vs a jumbo) and installed sit flush. Buyer beware of the Danco perfect seal. Always dry fit the toilet to see if it sits flush also. Hope this helps others. And thanks for sharing this informative video! Very helpful.
I did not understand what you did. It sounds like you did not have much stuff on the flange, but your toilet wobbles because your flange is the toilets main point of contact because it is so high. This is a difficult thing to figure out: what is the gap between the toilet horn and the flange, and how much stuff do I need to put in there to make a secure passage from toilet to pipe. Even though you think you have no stability issues now, I would put some shims under the toilet to resist motion as the wax ring settles and gets squished flat.
I installed the Danco perfect seal today. My flange is flush with the floor so I didn’t use the extension. So far so good. The toilet sits as solid as before with no rocking. It stopped the slight leak I had from the wax ring failing after 10+ years. I watched your video to see if you did your Danco install differently but was disappointed to see you install the Fluidmaster instead.
I used 3 of this waxless seal by Danco. Works like charm. Just hope it'll last long time. Using this on a new one piece toilet it did not take long from start to finish.😍😍
Put a little safe gasket grease or O ring grease on the grey or blue seal and the toilet horn will slide in easy ..if not the grey seal can bend when the horn makes contact with the seal and get a improper flush seal...u can do it while you have the toilet on it side u can tell how easy it slides with grease vs without it
i think Danco one, when used properly is good. I've used it time to time, but 80% of the time, i use the thick, extra wax ring, regardless how high or low the flange is, i just like that extra wax lol
See, that's where most people just don't care about little details like that. I have severe OCD and I always pay attention to little details like what you're talking about. I had to replace two toilets in a house I bought back in 2014. My wife thought I was wasting so much time by cleaning the wall behind the tank. I also cleaned all the excessive wax around the flange of the floor so everything would be nice and neat. But yeah, most people today just don't give a damn. They slap something on good enough for it to work and that's it. Details to me are everything.
I put in 3 of the same toilet for my cousin. Never really did a toilet. I bought the blue Fluidmaster you used & the red Korky one, tried the blue one, the flange was 1/2" above floor, even removing spacers felt toilet was too high, whereas with wax you can put weight on toilet and get the wax to squish down, pulled it off & used the red Korky removing the thicker spacer, worked better, still had to shim. Then put in 2 more & on one used the Danco one you showed (that toilet had the flange a bit below the floor) that had wax in it, that was pretty good. Tried the Fluidmaster again on one and rejected it, used the Korky. Terry Love, a master plumber who runs the Terry Love Plumbing Forum, still says use wax. I think in hindsight I would use wax, I think ideally if floor is level you want the entire base of toilet to rest on floor, since you can't tighten the flange bolts too much. With these waxless rings, they don't compress enough to get the toilet to rest on floor. Sure, you can shim, but that's not ideal. Another issue is, good thing on one I pulled the toilet before tightening bolts & saw that the thin rubber that went down into the waste pipe had caught and folded up, good thing I saw that or would have been an obstruction to flush. You would not have that issue w/a wax ring.
Thanks For Sharing! That Recess At The Ring and Bolts Is About 7/8” Deep On My Kohler Elliston, I Believe That Would Be The Critical Measurement, Since The Outer Base Edge Would Hit The Floor And Limit Any Further Compression Of Wax Ring. If Flange Is Any Higher Than 7/8” Above The Floor, Than Toilet Weight Will Be On The Flange/Pipe and Likely Wobble Needing Shims/Support... #YourRecessMayBegToDiffer #YourToiletRecessMayVary 🚽 #NotAPlumberInRealLife 🕳🦸♂️
Frank-You are SPOT on about the wax free rings! I went thru 3 of them and my toilet STILL wobbled and to use shims was ridiculous! I ended up using a wax ring and will do so from now on!
Agreed. I also used the fluidmaster once to try on my house. I removed the toilet a few months later to check how tight it was holding and found the the plastic funnel had turned upwards somehow and was catching a small amount of water. It didn't leak but I was not happy with that and could recommend them because of that issue.
Here is how I see it. I am not a plumber but I've been in HVAC for long enough to have spoken with so many plumbers. I always ask them what they prefer, wax or wax less. Plumbers always use wax because it works. They can guarantee wax. I've heard some plumbers say that they will install what the customer asks for but the warranty will depend on weather its wax or not. If plumbers do wax all day long, so will I. Again, I'm no plumber the everyone around me fancys me as a handy man and I've done a fair amount of wax replacements. No issues so far.
I guess it's just me but l see too many jobs by D.I.Y. folks not fully cleaning surfaces to ensure n even 360° smooth area and also plugging up the sewer pipe hole to avoid both allowing sewer gas seeping out and stinking up the house and also preventing tools, hardware and debris falling into the drain pipe.
How did that Better than Wax work for you after 18 months? According to the instructions you probably should have used the spacer too. The spacer is meant to lift the blue plastic high enough that it makes firm contact with the toilet porcelain, then compressed when you place the toilet weight on top. I’ve got exactly the same combination as you had in your video; wax, Perfect Seal, and better than wax. I’m leaning towards the Perfect Seal.
Remove the water tank from the toilet, so it is easier to remove it and re install. (less weight and easier to lower the toilet onto the seal gasket). Also you may want to clean the tiles around the toilet drain before installing the toilet.
It look literally 60 seconds to do it with the sponge. To bring the shop vac into the bathroom, turn it on, take it outside to dump the water, let the vacuum dry out, etc... it is actually easier to use the sponge. I like the fact that you are thinking creatively though. Really appreciate you watching!
Im a few years late watching this. I have used the perfect seal on both my toilets and they worked good. I have since sold that home and we are buying another home that is older and i will be needing to update the bathroom for sure and so im just refreshing my memory on the toilet seals. Im hopeing i dont have a cast iron piping. I didnt get in the crawl space of the house. I asked the inspector and he said my stack was cast but there was some pvc. Im hopeing the toilet drain has been udated ive heard they can be difficult to mess with. Anyways thanks for the vid.
I see that you used the Fluidmaster, I didn't see any wax on this one. Is there one that has wax? Also, did you try the Danco? The Danco Perfect Seal still has a wax ring, it's just that the wax doesn't touch the toilet.
Just installed a Danco and was meticulous in cleaning and proper installation. 10 minutes later, its leaking out of the back. Heading back to the store for a wax ring. Thanks for your video.
Those things are not often easy to install. If you are off just slightly when setting the toilet down, it could result in a leak. Luckily for me, I was able to get it sealed properly on the first try.
I stand corrected, the seal worked perfectly. The leak was actually coming from the tank. It must have moved slightly off the bowl when I leaned it back to clean. Thankfully I used blue ty-d-bowl and found the blue water coming from above before I pulled the toilet up again!
@@bentstruments Good on you for coming back and setting the record straight. Still happy with the Danco? I purchased the Next Perfect Seal and a traditional wax ring still trying to decide which to use.
@@flannelguydiy6458 I was looking all over RU-vid for how to change a toilet seal and watched several videos. I found yours and it made so easy and made a lot of sense!
@@ChrisGilliamOffGrid My Bro-in-law (40yr plumber) said to use clear silicone adhesive to chauk the toilet around the bottom of rim, helps to seal and level.
@@ChrisGilliamOffGrid Thanks Chris , it’s like you made that video for me! I haven’t installed yet so I’ll check out your directions. I!m installing white over black tile floor so the clear product is the charm. I,ve seen another vid where the chalk was applied to the underside rim of the toilet just befor setting it which makes sense to fill the grout gaps underneath the rim. Your Vid technique seems simpler. Probably do both.
It’s easier to maneuver the toilet if you disassemble the top off the bowl..then you can have more accuracy setting the bowl down and not wrench your back out too..
sure it would be lighter, but extra steps that I preferred not to take. Plus the bolts holding the tank to the bowl were rusted a bit and that could have opened up a whole other can of worms
@@flannelguydiy6458 just as easy to disassemble and replace those too..especially if they do look rusted, why ignore it and wait for a possible leak? Replacing all seals, gaskets and hardware at least keeps it all fresh and on the same schedule..you have to drain the whole thing regardless.. I had to bust out the Dremel to cut a bolt off that was completely rusted, I’m vowing to replace the whole lot long before I allow it to happen again..
My brass mounting flange is not round and does not sit level. It is flush and up to 3/16 above the floor. I tried the Fluid Master and it would not work in any configuration even removed the foam and tried the black spacer to add a little height. I went with the Danco. If there is a problem I will try the korky brand.
Suģgest you acquire a shop vac. Vac the water from tank and bowl. Takes about 45 sec and no water clean up. A ratchet box end wrench in 7/16 and 1/2 inch is also a very handy tool. À vibrating saw with metal blade is ideal to cut off rusty bolts.
yes I know all about the shop vac. However, by the time you open the shop vac to remove the filter so it can be used with water, carry it down to a bathroom, suck up the water, carry the shop vac outside to dump it, then replace the filter... it is actually MUCH faster to use a large sponge and a bucket. It was about five squeezes with that large sponge and it was done.
Very good video, Flannel Guy. I would have liked to see you do a dry fit of the BLUE part on to the toilet horn to give us an idea what the fit looks like. I thought that the idea was for the toilet horn to fit down INTO the blue thing, maybe deforming the inner part downward a little bit, and for the outer circumference of the blue ring to fit up against the bottom of the toilet around the horn (which is what a wax ring does, and that is what I thought we were going for with this blue ring thing). When I did the test fit on my toilet I found that the horn of my new toilet (Toto) contacts top of the blue ring, but it could not fit inside down into the diameter of the blue ring, even by stretching it. I used a flange extender ring to simulate the toilet/flange-ring junction, and I could not get the blue thing to seat on the horn without distorting the blue thing. There was no way to manipulate the blue thing to get the it to move any higher on the toilet horn. The only point of contact would be the thin edge of the toilet horn contacting the blue thing, but not fitting down into it. It looked like the blue ring would have distorted and not sealed. If the horn on my toilet was a smaller diameter and tapered then it would work, but I didn't feel like grinding the horn on toilet (!!). This meant that the blue thing's surface would not contact the bottom of the toilet around the horn. I have read that the size of the toilet horn varies but I have no experience with that. I recommend doing a dry fit to see what your junction will look like.
R Y , I know exactly what you're saying about the blue ring not fitting over the toilet horn. The fact is this particular seal is NOT UNIVERSAL. I couldn't get to set properly over the horn, nor could I get the toilet to set flush to the floor no matter how I tried. I ended up using a Sani Seal gasket instead without any issue.
For your viewers: From the start of the video, you want to take that black plastic away, the ring should pop out, you do not want to install your toilet on top of that plastic, you gonna have some interesting problems. Also I would put down some protective rubber mats and wear some gloves. You're dealing with poop and that can cause some serious health issues.
As much as it causes me pain to say, you probably just saved some poor sap a lot of work. If that's the case they should just use it for a watering dish for their cat and call a professional🤣
I'll add my experience with the new tech ring seals. The "better than wax" seal failed after 7 years. The rubber seal had become hard and brittle and began to leak, a lot. I replaced that with a "perfect seal" that was recommended by the big box plumber guy, which is a hybrid wax/rubber seal. That began to leak in a few days. I discovered the rubber seal had compressed on one side, and never popped up, leaving a gap...which leaked. Even after multiple attempts, I could never get it to seal properly. So, back to the old school plain jane wax ring. No leaks after several months. And still no leaks from my other toilets that have all wax ring seal after over 20 years. I should've known better. Oh, wear some throw away gloves, like nitryl mechanics gloves.
Great video and explanation but NO GLOVES flannel guy! 😳Oh man, I'll follow your advice but don't invite me to dinner, and I wont be shaking your hand either 😢
I cant believe you just put that toilet down without cleaning up that nasty crud that was under there, including the old caulk which is why its not particularly stable.
So far so good. Flushes well with no clogs. I happened to look beneath the area of the toilet in the crawl space below two days ago and there are no leaks at all
My buddy has been a plumber for 35 years and all he uses is wax rings he swears by them also if you take the tank off it would be a whole lot easier because it weighs less
@@flannelguydiy6458 protective gloves, laytex or other gloves is what I was talking about! Some ppl wear them but in some videos they are not! Then there was one video a person was wearing those garden gloves the ones you wear if dealing with wite and needle noses!
If you have to replace your toilet bolts wouldn’t you have to remove the toilet to do that? In that case you would need to replace the wax ring anyway, wouldn’t you? 😳
After draining the water out of the tank finish getting all the water out of the tank and toilet with your SHOP VAC. Of course, remove your paper filter and make sure the vac is empty and not filled with dirt, etc. So much tidier.
it is way easier to use the sponge. By the time I open the shop vac and dump out the debis that is there, remove the filter, bring it into the house, then dump the water, let it dry out before putting it away. Too much BS and the sponge is done in about 60 seconds.
The first thing I would have put on my hands would be a glove I don't mess with a toilet I don't care if it's spit shine I'm putting a sponge in a commode with your bare hands I just don't see that