American Standard Cadet repair

The wax ring started leaking and in order to dismount the toilet I had to disconnent the tank. Bolts and seals were all but gone, so I went to HD and got some Fluidmaster kit with the rubber seals and all. I am missing one gasket which looks like it's used to stabilize the tank on the bowl, but I think I can reuse mine.

The toilet is old, not sure how old. All I see is Cadet on the buttom and 630 stamped on the back of the tank.

What do I do about a wax ring? HD has No 1 and No 3 which look the same to me . Which do I use?

I really wish the sucker woulda lasted another 6 month until we got to remodeling that bath...

Depends somewhat on where your flange is installed. If it is on top of the finished floor, you can use a standard wax ring...if it is recessed some, you may need the extra thick one or stack two together. What you DON'T want is the one with a horn, they often cause more problems than they're worth.

The most common reason for a wax ring failure is if the toilet can rock. It MUST be stable on the floor. Second reason, you twisted it while installing. Next, it moved or fell off while setting the toilet (these are my opinion, not necessarily in the right order). Wax isn't flexible.

An alternative to a wax ring is one of the waxless seal kits. The two better known ones are made by Fluidmaster and Fernco. You could reuse this on the new toilet when you remodel and not have to deal with scraping the wax off again. Wax is cheaper...

Jim,

I am sure the ring failed because the toilet got loose. The flange is on top of the subfloor with carpet/padding cut around the toilet. Yes, they carpet in the bathroom. I am certain I'll be replacing the subfloor if it looks anything like it did in the master bath. And I am sure it does.

What do you mean by a standard and what do you mean by a horn?

Wax rings come in about 3 thicknesses. Standard is what is used when the flange is properly set on top of the finished floor. For various reasons, sometimes the flange is set below the level of the finished floor and a thicker wax ring is needed. Since you indicate your flange is on the sub floor, you will need the thick ring. The horn referred to is the plastic funnel that some designer who never did any plumbing came up with to sell rings that are more expensive that just a Plain-Jane one. To a novice, these seem like a good idea, but in reality they cause more problems than they fix. They really mess up a 3" flange and can cause problems on a 4" if the toilet is not perfectly set over the flange. Not recommended.

Thanks all!