It is difficult to measure the exact size of the wax ring just by looking at your toilet. You can only determine the size of the toilet wax ring if you remove the whole fitting from its base. This will enable you to remove and measure out the component you need to replace.
If you think that your toilet has problems with the wax ring, it is important to know where to begin in order to acquire the correct size you need to buy. Here is a list of things you need to perform before you can get hold of that wax ring set under the toilet seat.
1. Remove Excess Water from the Tank
It is important to drain the remaining water in the tank before unmounting the toilet seat from its base. So first off, you need to shut off supply of water going to the toilet tank valve. This will ensure that after the tank has been drained, no more water will go into the bowl. If possible, try to sponge the tank dry before going to the next procedure.
2. Disconnect Water Supply Line
Disconnecting the pipe from the supply line can cause some water to spill around the workspace. So you better get some towels and a bucket to avoid this from happening. When you are ready, you can now loosen the nuts and remove them from its connection from the floor.
If your toilet has been around for quite some time already, you may need to apply some penetrating oils that will enable to seep through the corroded bolts. Try not to break the anchor flange of the toilet by moderately applying pressure when loosening the bolts.
3. Dismantle the Tank
If you think that you don’t have enough space to work on with a heavy toilet, try dismantling the tank from the bowl first. This will ease out the burden by separating the tank before unmounting the toilet seat from the ground.
4. Remove the Wax Ring
Try to use disposable gloves before doing this. Likewise, it is important to have proper ventilation by opening the windows. Understandably, it can release some unwanted odor from the pipes, so you might as well wear masks. The mounting bolts must be removed and the anchor flange must be checked as well for possible damage. You can then unmount the old wax ring before covering the drain with old rags big enough not to fall into the drain pipe.
5. Determine the Size of the Wax Ring
After removing the wax ring, try to measure its diameter using a tape measure. Some toilets that have been abandoned or unused for a long period of time may have damaged or missing wax rings. Measuring the elbow neck can be an option to determine the dimension of the old wax ring.
If you need to measure the thickness of the wax ring, check out how the toilet is being set up onto the floor. Sometimes the toilet flange is located below the floor level, so you need to acquire the double thick type. Meanwhile, if you think it is just leveled on the floor, a standard type wax ring will suffice.
