Replacing flange and wax ring of toilet?

Question

Is the flange supposed to sit on top of the drain pipe or is it slide around it and sit on the floor? We replaced a toilet and it has been racking ever since. I think it is because the flange we have is too small and is sitting on top of the drain pipe. Do I have to get a flange with a wider hole to fit around the drain pipe?

Answer 1

the flange is mounted on the pipe. there shld be mounting brackets showing after a good cleaning( you must remove any & all  parts of old wax ring ) of pipe and base of toilet. if no mount is on pipe than your local hdware store sells kits.

Answer 2

Flange should be bolted or screwed to the floor itself so if the flange isn't wider than the pipe then I'd suggest getting a bigger one.  Especially if you've got and old cast iron pipe, those things are extremely brittle and can crack if you put sideways pressure on them, like a toilet leaning back and forth.

Answer 3

it depends, if you have plastic flange & pipe, you can get a flange that will fit over outside of pipe or inside pipe. If you have 4" plastic pipe, you can get a 4X3 flange that will fit inside the pipe or a 4" flange that will fit over the pipe, A 3" pipe can use same flange but it will fit over pipe. The flange must sit flat on floor or it will rock, and get wax seal that DOES NOT have the plastic insert. Home depot loves to sell those because they make more money off them. If you have lead pipe, then you will need a brass flange that wil go over flange, and then ( w/ hammer) tap lead over flange ( after) you put t- bolts in flange. Flange will have normally 4 holes in it to secure it to floor which is a MUST. BE CAREFULL not to tighten nuts on bolts too tight on plastic or you will break flange

Answer 4

First of all, some valid suggestions so far, given that we don't have specific details, BUT a flange for a toilet, be it Old metal pipe, or PVC, should NOT extend inches above even the substrate. It would seem that it might be the case however, and in that case the "ROCKING" is due to the fact that the toilet isn't settling flush to whatever flooring is installed.

  Toilet plumbing in sizes has been pretty much standard for many years, at least in size. Toilets should have followed the same evolution? I suspect I'd check the FIT with even a school ruler to begin with.

  The FLANGE is meant to sit on, and be attached to the drain, which should equate to 4 inches approx. Your issue, again, is to know the Molded, down flange of the toiled, OD measurement, Know the ID measurement of the drain flange, THEN decide on how to adjust. More an issue might be the height of the flange, versus the current flooring, and how it meets, or doesn't meet the toilet draining opening.

  Long ago, Toilet drain plumbing and hardware evolved to a point of including a rubber flange embedded int wax rings, that allowed for some variance, but this sounds like your issue is a bit deeper than that.

Steven Wolf

Just my two "sense"

Answer 5

the pipe fitting should fit and the wax ring should seal if they dont you will continue to have problems