Basement toilet leaking - even after replacing ring

2003 Views 7 Replies 4 Participants Last post by AllanJ, Feb 20, 2013

chieftaing

Discussion Starter · Feb 20, 2013

The house we bought about 10 months ago has a small bathroom in the basement with a toilet & sink and a plastic grinder/pump. Everything was working OK, but it didn't get a lot of use.

The toilet started majorly leading out of the base after one or two flushes. I replaced the wax ring - same thing. The toilet is on a small platform which is perhaps 6-8" high - so that it drains into the plastic grinder/pump box which is the type that sits on the floor - it is not embedded into the floor.

I suspect the float adjustment in the grinder/pump box, but my question is whether the wax seal on the bottom of a toilet is supposed to be completely water tight, and so in this case should be able to handle water in the toilet waste pipe as the grinder/pump box fills up, or, is the grinder/pump float always supposed to keep the level of the waste below where the toilet waste pipe enters it?

I don't want to lift off the toilet yet again and replace the wax ring again if I don't have to - so any advice on how tight the seal created by the wax ring is supposed to be would be most helpful. Thanks.

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chieftaing

Discussion Starter · #4 · Feb 20, 2013

Flange was level or slightly below - no more than 1/2" if at all. When I set the toilet with the new wax ring in place, it seemed like the toilet was already pretty much on the floor - I didn't have to push on it (vertically) nor sit on it to get it to settle on the floor - maybe an indication of something not right with the seal?

Thanks for the help!

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chieftaing

Discussion Starter · #5 · Feb 20, 2013

djlandkpl said:
Maybe there's a crack in the grinder tank. If you wind up pulling the toilet, kill the power to the pump and try filling the tank up with water to the top and see if it leaks.

Does the pump turn on after 1 or 2 flushes? I'm not a pro but I would think the tank should be at a level that would allow incoming waste without overflowing.

Great questions. All leaks are from under the toilet, not the tank which is pretty much fully visible/exposed on a side wall of the bathroom 'addition'. It actually takes more than one or two flushes for the pump to turn on - which is why I suspect the float. I'm still not certain if the water in the tank is never supposed to go higher than the level of the bottom of the toilet, or, if the level in the tank can rise above the bottom of the toilet and hence requires a really tight, 100% waterproof seal.

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