Troubleshoot or replace toilet

[Emg03063]

I have a toilet in a 1935 built house I've owned for 2 years, and the water level in the bowl has always been low as long as I've been here (one of those items on the deferred troubleshooting list-- don't judge me).  I recently noticed water on the bathroom floor that appears to be leaking from the wax ring.  Not a problem I've seen before.  There's a 1994 date code on the toilet (American Standard, tank type).  The water level in the tank is almost to the overflow valve, although the overflow valve does appear to be low relative to the tank height.  I haven't tried any other troubleshooting.  Replacement toilets at Menards are $99, all hardware included.  I could mess around with $30 in parts to replace the flush valve & wax ring, which may or may not solve the problem, or just replace it & be done, which also may not solve the problem depending on cause, according to what I've read on the Internet.  The Menards guy says just replace it & be done, but of course he's got a bias to sell stuff, although he appeared earnest & trustworthy.  This isn't really a financial issue; I just hate to landfill what might be a perfectly good toilet for no reason other than I'm too lazy to troubleshoot.

[Spork]

The Menard's $99 toilet may be fine.  But I'm suspicious.

*IF* you want to replace, pick a toilet from Terry Love's list: http://www.terrylove.com/crtoilet.htm.  You'll get something that is efficient on water, flushes well and keeps the bowl clean.

You DO want to fix the wax ring leakage before it causes other damage.

There was an era in the early days of water saving toilets where they really sucked.  I don't know if that included 1994 or not... but if you're in the early days of water saving toilets, replacement is probably reasonable.

[DoingMe]

I don't understand your situation.

You say "I recently noticed water on the bathroom floor that appears to be leaking from the wax ring."  If your diagnosis is correct, the fix (as you already know) is to remove the toilet, replace the seal (with new wax or other technology seal).  Note that you will have to go through a similar process whether you repair this one or replace the toilet (you will, of course, have to assemble the new toilet and dispose of the old one, should you decide to replace the toilet).

Later in your post, you write about "mess[ing] around with $30 in parts to replace the flush valve & wax ring, which may or may not solve the problem"  If your wax ring diagnosis is correct, the water on the floor has nothing to do with the flush valve.

If you are confident that the wax ring is no longer sealing and the toilet is otherwise a) flushing fine and b) efficient, I would first try to fix the seal on the one you've got.  A new seal shouldn't cost much and that's what you will be out if you are wrong.  If, on the other hand, you want a more efficient model or it hasn't been performing well for you, this may be the perfect excuse to "fix" those problems as well ... but that probably suggests spending more than $99. :-)

Best of luck.

[Emg03063]

There are two separate, possibly related problems here.  One is the low water level in the bowl, the other is the leak.  If it was just leaking, I would just replace the wax ring.  The toilet I have is a low flow (1.6 gpf), so good chance it's just bad by design, being early generation low flow (they came out in '92 apparently).  That's putting me towards replacing it. 

[trollwithamustache]

If its just the wax ring leaking, its less work to yank the old toilet, swap the ring and put the old toilet back on than a full toilet replacement. (since you don't have to handle the new toilet and dispose of the old) Less of your time and less money.  If the toilet isn't running constantly, I would suspect that all the guts of your toilet are otherwise fine.   

As for the low flow toilet, that sounds like the right era for a crappy performer. There are much better low flow toilets now. If racing stripes are a problem then you're stuck replacing even though its more work/cost. Personally I have considered being OK with this, but as the missus was not I came around pretty quickly.

[lthenderson]

As to the water "leaking from the wax ring" have you ruled out condensation on the outside of the toilet which happens when colder than normal water coming in through the fill valve meets with moist warm air inside the house

[DoingMe]

There are two separate, possibly related problems here.  One is the low water level in the bowl, the other is the leak.  If it was just leaking, I would just replace the wax ring.  The toilet I have is a low flow (1.6 gpf), so good chance it's just bad by design, being early generation low flow (they came out in '92 apparently).  That's putting me towards replacing it.

Do you have any evidence that suggests the water level in the bowl is not the way the factory intended it (e.g., the flush valve has been replaced with a generic one or has been modified in some way)?  When efficient toilets were mandated (given the date code on yours, it was an early implementation), many manufacturers didn't change the actual toilet design, they simply changed how much water was released into the bowl.  What I'm suggesting is that, perhaps, the manufacturer may have made a less efficient toilet more efficient by simply limiting the amount of water in the bowl and hence, was released into the bowl during the flush.

If your thought process runs along these same lines, I can see why you would be considering this a perfect opportunity to solve both the leak and get a better functioning / more efficient toilet.

My $0.02 on toilets ...  Not all toilets are the same (even modern ones).  If you purchase a quality toilet, it will perform better and save serious amounts of water.  If you do decide that replacement is the way you want to go, I would recommend NOT buying on price.  My favorite toilet brand is Toto, though there are other good brands as well.  You won't get any of them for $99.

There is a lot of information about toilet tests on the Internet.  You may come across the folks who use soy paste to make "test turds" (I find this rather humorous).  To reiterate, I would not simply buy whatever toilet is on sale.

Good luck!

[HipGnosis]

Third possibility for wet floor;
Water is leaking out of the tank.  Either on it's way from the tank to the bowl when you are flushing or out of the tank-bowl connecting bolts assembly.
Does the toilet 'run' (which is topping off the tank) occasionally when not in use?

The level of water in the bowl is a generally a function of the physical shape and configuration of the water passage out of the bowl (see http://diy.stackexchange.com/questions/56225/how-to-control-the-level-of-water-in-the-toilet-bowl)

But.. There is usually a small, flexible tube (usually clipped to the overflow tube) that adds water to the bowl while the tank is filling (marked as refill tube on the diagram above). If this comes loose or pinched, the water level in the bowl well be too low.