A frequent repair for leaking toilets is a rusted out painted steel ring on a PVC or ABS closet flange. I make no secret of my like for stainless steel rings on PVC/ABS closet flanges they are far superior to painted steel or, worse yet all plastic closet flanges. I would urge every plumbing consumer to insist that the plumber use stainless steel ringed closet flanges if ABS or PVC pipes are being installed to a toilet. The extra couple of dollars it will cost is cheap compared to the cost of future repairs.
When you pull a toilet that has a leaking wax ring very often you find the closet flange had a painted steel ring and the ring is rusted badly enough that the closet bolts can no longer be secured in the ring. Until recently the repair options were either time consuming and expensive or, shoddy and inexpensive. On the expensive side it consisted of removing the old flange and installing a new one, this sometimes required a hole to be cut in the ceiling below to allow the plumber access to the toilet drain pipe. The inexpensive repair consisted of using aftermarket repair rings and spanner that although they would secure to the floor they did nothing to secure the plastic part of the flange and the strength of their ability to secure the closet bolts is doubtful at best.
Fortunately recently Oatey introduced the Moss Bay Replacement Flange P/N 42777 that is a strong stainless steel 2 piece ring that in addition to locking the closet bolts securely in place also grips onto the plastic part of the closet flange just like the original one piece ring that originally came on the flange. It is by far the best repair I have seen yet.
To use the Moss Bay Replacement Flange the flooring must still be in good enough condition that the wood flooring can still solidly hold a screw that is screwed into it. Cut the old rusted steel ring off the plastic part of the closet flange without damaging it. Remove all of the old ring from the locking groove in the plastic and the flooring. Remove two pieces of the new ring from the packaging. Do not use the closet bolts that come with this product. The only bad thing I can say about this product is that it comes supplied with ¼” zinc plated steel closet bolts. Instead use 5/16” solid brass closet bolts purchased separately. Place the two halves of the Moss Bay Replacement Flange into the locking ring of the plastic section of the flange and put the closet bolts in place securing them with a nut and washer. The flange is now firmly locked onto the plastic section of the flange yet can still rotate. Rotate the flange until the closet bolts are square to the wall and then secure the ring to the floor using six #12 brass or stainless steel wood screws that are long enough to grip through all the layers of flooring.
Once this is complete your flange repair is better than the original and you are ready to reinstall the toilet with a new wax ring. Make sure that you use a new closet supply, shim the toilet to prevent rocking if needed, and caulk around the base of the toilet with Phenoseal or Polyseamseal caulk. Do not use a Silicone RTV based caulk.
Redwood,
A product I have had luck with is the ‘Oatey P/N 43539′.
It is a PVC flange with 4″ O.D. insert that has a gasket compressed by 3 screws. The flange is secured with blue masonary screws
Perfect for repair in a basement of an older home that has 4″ cast or clay undergroud rough. This is also a good time for the customer to invest in camera service to make sure there are no other problems with the building drain.
Yea Mike, Those work pretty good but I really prefer having metal flanges for the toilet to bolt down to. My preference would be something like the #165 Cast Iron Flanges. I just have seen to many leaking all plastic flanges to have any confidence in them. If they put a stainless steel ring on that product I would love it.
Hi, I took out my old toilet and realized that the flange was all rusted out and crumbling in front of my eyes. The flange had blue paint on top of it and had basically seen its last days. I went down to Lowe’s and was happy to find the Oatey Moss Bay Replacment flange thinking that it would easily solve my problem. Well, I’m confused since it seems like the new flange has no where to secure to my black abs pipe. In your instructions to install the Moss flange you say to secure the flange to your pipe. I have no where to secure it to. I have a lip on the pipe but no groves. Is this something that the Moss flange cannot work with? I remember seeing another person email you about the same situation that I’m having but I don’t see any reply from you that answer his question. Your help and answer would be greatly appreciated. I can send photos too.
HI Thuy,
If you have removed the old ring completely try fitting the new Moss Bay Replacement Flange with the lip of the flange just under that lip on the plastic section and put the 2 halves together. You will find that there is indeed either a very small groove or some tabs under the plastic lip that make up the locking groove.
You may not have all of the old ring removed.
Look carefully to see where the old ring was attached to the flange.
I have seen a very small number of closet flanges that it did not fit but it does fit most of them.
Would this work with the same setup on a concrete floor? How would I attach this to the concrete? Hammer drill and concrete screws? Thank you!
Hi Dave,
Yes, Installing this flange on concrete would be the same with the exception of the fasteners used.
I usually used TapCon stainless steel screws in this application.
Thanks for posting your questions,
Redwood
What are the dimensions for this flange? The outer diameter of my ABS piping is 5 3/8″ and the closest thing found for a replacement is a painted steel ring which only has a 5 1/4″ diameter. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Hi Travis,
If your existing ABS closet flange has a steel ring this should fit into the groove where the existing steel ring sat once the steel ring is removed. It clamps onto the flange in much the same manner that the existing ring did before you removed it. If you feel that your ring is an oddball size I would recommend picking one up to compare before removing what is left of your old ring.
Redwood