Wax-Free Toilet Bowl Gasket?

Question

Saw this in Facebook (from Amazon) ...

Fluidmaster 7530P8 Universal Better Than Wax Toilet Seal, Wax-Free Toilet Bowl Gasket Fits Any Drain

Looking for anyone who has tried such things and how the experience has been with it ...

David Dachtera · Answer

My thoughts on that are since it's part of the fitting (it's between the flange and the bottom of the bowl),  it may remain sealed or reseal itself in a scenario where once the wax gasket is deformed for whatever reason the resulting leak is permanent until you replace the wax gasket.

Again, experience over time will prove it's suitability for the application. Plastics and rubber products do deteriorate over time. So does wax.

Timothy Boyd · Answer

Hey @David Dachtera.  I have used this product on both our primary and our rental property.  Works like a charm and there is no messy wax to clean up.  That being said, both replacements were within the last 18 months, so I could not say if they fail sooner or later than conventional wax rings.  I am a fan and will continue using this instead of the wax.  Good luck!

Andrew S. · Answer

Coincidental update:  I decided to replace the bathroom flooring in one of the properties I used a non-wax ring to re-seat the toilet about 9 months ago.  My flooring guy had to pull the toilet and was extremely pleased with how clean and easy the toilet lift was.  He was able to just reseat the toilet when he was done with the flooring - used the same hardware.  So, definitely seems to be worth the few dollars extra cost vs. a wax ring.

Andrew S. · Answer

I have used these products maybe 10 times over the past 5 or so years and have never had any issues with the installation.  So far, they have held up just fine, so I will definitely stick with them because they are so much less messy and because re-seating a toilet is no problem whilst you only really get ONE shot with a wax ring.

That said, of course, it will be a very long time until I can truly comment on their durability vs. a wax ring since those often last many decades.  Also, it will be a long time before I can actually benefit from not having to deal with the messy wax when replacing them....

My main driver for switching away from wax was that there are basically two things that joint comes in contact with (aside from water): poop and wax.  In most cases where I had to remove a toilet, it was very hard to tell which of those materials (or a mixture thereof) I was scraping off of the floor and toilet.... yuck.

Dawn P. · Answer

I used one of those Better Than Wax seals about 3 years ago in one of my rentals, and while I did have to fuss with it to make it fit, I haven't had any issues with it so far.

That said, I just set two toilets in my current project using plain old wax rings. Like @Jim K. said, they just work.

Alecia Loveless · Answer

@David Dachtera My handyman has started using these for most toilets unless the situation simply needs wax. He is pleased with them and hasn’t had a problem with them yet.

Jim K. · Answer

I get it, David, I really do. We've had our differences in the past, and this is not one of them. I've just seen wax hold up for forty, fifty years a few times. It's impressive as hell.

Adam Martin · Answer

I tried something similar to this when I put LVT in and could not get it to fit properly per the directions.  The toilet sat too tall if I included the spacer and the directions said I needed one based on how high the floor was over the flange.  I gave up and went to the old fashioned wax ring and will just stick to that in the future.  Take note I am technically challenged and nervous about water which is why I was so by the book on instructions but a $10 part could cost tens of thousands in damage if not installed properly.

Jim K. · Answer

David, for what it's worth, I've never used anything but wax. It's nasty, it's ugly, but the material and the technology have been proven since 1945 in sanitary systems. The only things these other gaskets have going for them is that they're reusable, neater, and cleaner. But do you really want to leave room for error so that something that's automatically THAT nasty is just a bit less nasty? Wax is honest. Wax gets it done. Wax holds up. It's good enough for me.

Wax-Free Toilet Bowl Gasket?

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