If you’re researching what you need to properly set a toilet. Then you have probably come across a product called a wax ring.

A wax ring is a round flange made of wax that is soft and malleable. The wax ring is made to seal and set a toilet bowl to the floor. It fits over 3″ or 4″ waste lines. The wax ring makes a permanent seal and prevents water and gases from escaping.

Whether you’re a weekend project warrior in the process of researching what you need for a future bathroom remodel or just updating a water closet. You will need a wax ring to help you complete the project.

What is a Wax Ring For?

A wax ring is up there with the most common plumbing products. This simple product has multiple functions. Wax rings are necessary for setting a toilet properly. Its primary purpose is to seal a toilet bowl to the floor.

Another function of the wax ring is that it provides a watertight seal. The wax provides an impermeable seal and also helps to keep any sewer gases from seeping through. That alone is an amazing benefit from such a simple design.

Different Wax Rings, Sizes & Types

You might not know this but there are many variations of wax rings. They all serve the same purpose but some are different for slightly different applications. I’ll break them down for you below. All of the wax rings I’ll be discussing here are for floor-mounted toilets and are designed to seal over 3″ or 4″ sanitary pipes. Those pipes could be cast iron, PVC, or copper.

The most basic and most common wax ring is the standard wax ring. This is a plain round wax ring for a basic toilet installation. The thickness of a standard wax ring is approximately 1″ thick.

The next wax ring is what’s called a deep or extra thick wax ring. This is also a plain round wax ring. However, the wax is thicker or deeper making it taller. The average thickness for a deep wax ring is approximately 1-1/4″ .

There are wax rings that also have what they call a horn or gasket on the inner side of the wax ring. The horn is basically a hard plastic funnel inside of the wax. Some people like that it acts as a channel for the waste and water to get into the waste pipe. You can find a regular or standard wax ring with horn and also a deep or extra thick wax ring with horn.

Choosing the Right Wax Ring for Your Toilet

When you’re selecting a wax ring for your toilet installation, several factors come into play to ensure a secure and long-lasting seal. First begin by assessing the flange size and height to determine the appropriate wax ring type. For floor-mounted toilets with a standard flange height, a traditional standard wax ring, approximately 1″ thick, is often suitable for the application. However, in scenarios where the flange sits higher due to added flooring layers, consider an extra-thick wax ring, around 1-1/4″ in thickness, to accommodate the difference. Additionally, for those preferring added features, wax rings with horns or gaskets can be beneficial, guiding waste and water into the waste pipe more efficiently. Understanding your toilet’s specific requirements and the surrounding environment will aid in choosing the ideal wax ring for a secure and reliable seal.

Reasons for Replacing Your Wax Ring

Here are some reasons you would need to replace a toilet wax ring.

• Simple toilet replacement: When undertaking a routine toilet replacement, it’s advisable to replace the wax ring as well to ensure a fresh and secure seal.
• Toilet shifting and damage: If the toilet has shifted or become unstable, potentially damaging the existing wax ring, it’s crucial to replace it to restore the seal’s integrity.
• Toilet removal for maintenance: When necessary to remove the toilet for tasks like snaking out the waste pipe or addressing underlying plumbing issues, replacing the wax ring during reinstallation is essential for a proper seal.
• Leakage around the toilet base: Any signs of water seepage or leakage around the base of the toilet indicate a compromised wax ring, warranting immediate replacement to prevent water damage and maintain a secure seal.

Do You Put the Wax Ring on the Toilet or the Floor Flange?

The best and proper way is to position the wax ring on the floor flange before setting the toilet bowl. The reason for this is because if you stick the wax ring to the bowl first it will not create an effective seal. Here are some tips for setting your toilet.

• Make sure the floor and flange is clean and clear of any debris or old wax.
• Place the wax ring in the correct position and center it on the flange as best you can.
• Set the bowl down over the wax ring and lower the bowl slowly onto the wax and center the holes over the toilet bolts.
• Now you can press the bowl down and give it enough pressure to have the wax create a nice seal onto the bowl.

How Long Will a Wax Ring Last?

A toilet bowl wax ring typically lasts for many years when installed properly. There are factors that can affect the lifespan, like correct installation, usage frequency, and environmental conditions. A well-installed wax ring can normally last around a decade or more. However, heavy usage or shifts in the toilet may wear it out faster. Some environmental elements like extreme temperatures or moisture exposure will also impact its integrity. Regular checks for leaks, odors, or movement are recommended and can help determine if the wax ring needs replacement. Promptly addressing any of these signs of wear can prevent potential water damage.

Ensuring Longevity: Maintenance Tips for Extending the Life of Your Wax Ring

Maintaining your wax ring is pivotal for ensuring a durable and watertight seal around your toilet. Regular inspections will play a key role; periodically check for any signs of leakage, shifting, or damage around the toilet base. Additionally, keep the area around the toilet clean and free from moisture or debris, as this can degrade the wax ring over time. A simple practice is to gently clean the base of the toilet, ensuring there’s no buildup of grime that might compromise the seal. Moreover, consider scheduling annual or bi-annual inspections by a professional plumber to assess the wax ring’s condition and make any necessary replacements or adjustments. These proactive measures not only extend the lifespan of your wax ring but also help prevent potential water damage and costly repairs that could arise in the future.

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Air chambers are small lengths of pipe that are mounted on your water pipes, close to a fixture. They‘re made to stop hydraulic shock also known as water hammer. The air in the chamber compresses and absorbs the shock of water moving abruptly in your pipes. This all happens when a fixture shuts off the water quickly.

There is absolutely a variety of air chambers to choose from. Not all of them are created equally. Adding these air chambers to your existing plumbing can save you thousands of dollars. I’ll explain what I mean by that in this post.

Air Chambers are also known as…

Air chambers are called different things depending on what you were taught. Old school plumbers call them PPP’s. Air chambers are also known as hammer arrestors, shock arrestors, and mini arrestors to name a few. Throughout my post, I will be referring to air chambers as hammer arresters. Now let’s discuss exactly what water hammer is.

What is Water Hammer?

The Pressure surge from a valve shutting off abruptly changes the momentum of the water. When this happens your pipes move and shake and you hear a noise called water hammer. Water is a non-compressible fluid. We tend to forget but water is actually quite heavy. A gallon is about 8.33 pounds! Think of all the water in your plumbing system at home or even in a large commercial plumbing system. That can be a lot of water and the weight can add up very quickly.

Imagine the water flowing into your plumbing system. Then picture a valve from a fixture like a laundry faucet being shut off quickly. The water literally slams into the valve and reverberates. The water moves back against the flow and this causes pipes to move and shake. The change in momentum creates a spike in pressure. That can be detrimental to your plumbing system.

Why Air Chambers are Necessary

We want to mitigate water hammer. The first way to do that should be to try and slow the closure speed of the valve. This might not be possible depending on the fixture. For example, if a dishwasher shuts off you cant control the speed of that valve. The next best way to mitigate water hammer is with an air chamber device A.K.A a hammer arrester.

Water hammer shakes and moves plumbing systems and creates that audible water hammer noise. This not only can shift pipes but it beats up your plumbing joints, valves and fixtures. Here are some things that water hammer damages that you probably haven’t thought about.

The Main Products that Get Damaged from Water Hammer

• Water heaters
• Faucets
• Shower valves
• Fittings
• Backflow preventers
• Plumbing hangers or bracing

I want to expand briefly on each of these products. Let’s start with Water Heaters. Your water heater can fail from excessive and uncontrolled water hammer. The shock wave of water that travels through your tank rapidly and over time can cause your tank lining to crack. If your tank cracks that can cause rusting and leaking and ultimately failure. As you most likely know water heaters can be very costly to switch out.

Faucets can be damaged from water hammer as well. When a surge of water comes through, your faucet cartridge is what typically gets damaged. Your faucet cartridge can crack from water hammer. Hopefully, you can find your cartridge easily, and hopefully, it’s not too expensive to fix.

A shower valve is susceptible to damage from water hammer too. Increased pressure can wreck your shower valve in many ways. In many cases, if the valve is old you won’t be able to get a replacement cartridge. You might be forced to open up walls and put in a new shower valve.

Backflow preventers are at risk from water hammer as well. Downstream surges of water can create excess dumping of water from your backflow preventer. Backflow preventers are built tuff but they have a lot of internal parts. When water hammer is involved they can be exposed to extreme wear from that kind of pressure. Fixing these units is costly and can take a decent amount of time to work on even by a licensed professional.

Not so Obvious Products that can be Damaged

The pipes and fittings that make up your plumbing system can be damaged too. When your pipes shake and move this creates external pressure on plumbing joints. The joints are typically elbows and tee’s. If one lets loose the damage can be extensive. Water hammer in the plumbing system creates high internal pressure that can exceed your pipe and fittings pressure rating. If that happens fittings can fail that way as well.

Hangers and brackets. This one by now is probably pretty obvious but it’s worth mentioning. When you have water hammer, and the pipes are banging around that can dislodge plumbing system hangers and brackets. When that happens that can create loud noises when the pipes are not secured. If your plumbing system is hanging without hangers it’s at greater risk of totally failing.

The Mechanics of an Air Chamber.

It’s a fairly simple device, the hammer arrestor requires no maintenance and no charging of air.

Internally the hammer arrestor has a piston that’s sealed inside the copper pipe with a few o-rings. The space thats above the piston, is charged with air and below the piston, it’s exposed to the plumbing water. So as a shock wave from a fast-closing valve moves through the pipes and to the hammer arrestor that causes the piston to rise and compress the air. As a result, when that compression occurs it’s absorbing the energy from the shock that was caused by the initial fast-closing valve. Once the energy is dissolved it then releases the piston and it waits for the water hammer to occur again.

Where Air Chambers are Typically Located?

Air chambers are typically located on the plumbing pipe in close proximity to a plumbing fixture. Hammer arresters need to be installed within 6 feet of the quick closing valve. Hammer arresters can be installed at any angle. Which is really nice for the installer.

Plumbing fixtures that should have a hammer arrester installed close to them are:

Dishwashers

Washing Machines

Tub and shower valves

Sensor faucets

Ice Makers

These are some of the big items that most likely will need a hammer arrester. Of course, you could have other fixtures that require one as well. I always recommend speaking to a licensed professional about your plumbing concerns.

What Types of Air Chambers are there?

There are so many different types of air chambers out there. They make really generic ones and they make fixture specific ones too. I recommend a well-made hammer arrester. Cold-formed and spin closed ends mean that they have no welded seams. That means that there is one less joint that could leak. That might be something that only a really good contractor cares about. It’s something to consider if you purchase one yourself.

The vast array of arresters include 1/2″ copper sweat, 1/2″ MIP, 3/4″ Hose connection for a washer machine. They also have 3/8″ compression tee’s for a dishwasher. They have a toilet and tub and shower specific hammer arresters too. There’s also cpvc and expansion and crimp pex straight arrestors. The list goes on and on.

The main point here is that there is an arrester for every application. That makes the installation process way easier.

Final Thoughts

Hopefully, you’ve learned some relevant information about air chambers/hammer arresters. You can see that they are very useful to have as a part of your plumbing system. If your home has any signs of water hammer please take that seriously. Professional plumbers will be able to not only install them where they are needed but they will be able to size them correctly as well. Sizing them can be tricky and that might have to be for another post.

If you have comments and would like me to write about anything plumbing related please let me know. Thanks so much for taking the time to be here.

The post What is an Air Chamber in Plumbing? And Why They’re Important. appeared first on plumbing review.

A chimney vent water heater is simply a gas-fueled hot water heater that is vented through a chimney. Also referred to by the pros as an “atmospheric vent” water heater.

This type of hot water heater is by far the most common of all water heaters in a residential setting. If your home was built in the 1900’s and you have a chimney then most likely your water heater is vented through the chimney. On most new homes if you have a conventional vent gas water heater it could just be vented through a metal flue pipe and go out through the roof where it’s then terminated. More on that throughout this post.

Why do you need to vent the water heater?

Because when you burn gas or fossil fuel it creates combustion and exhaust gases that absolutely need to be vented properly to remove them from your home. When you have a hot water heater that runs on natural gas or liquid propane (LP) gas, your hot water heater will need to be vented properly. Of course, we recommend you check your hot water heaters specification sheet and install manual for your specific hot water heater venting requirements.

Not only do you have to follow the guidelines for venting the water heater in your basement but depending on what kind of water heater you have, the termination of the vent outside of your home as certain requirements as well – for example, the vent might have to be so far away from a window or corner of a home. However, if its chimney vented that won’t be an issue for you.

What is atmospheric venting?

Simply put it’s the process of the exhaust gases naturally rising into the atmosphere. The hot water heaters exhaust gases are channeled through a vent and rise into the Atmosphere. An atmospheric gas hot water heater actually vents through a metal pipe. The metal pipe goes from the top of your hot water heater and travels upward through your home. It then vents out the top of your roof where it is then terminated.

Since we know that hot air works on the principle of rising upward, that is exactly what the atmospheric vent is for. It is critical that the venting is channeling upward and if not totally vertical then sloping upward. By sloping upward it will ensure the gases are flowing out of the house and through the metal vent pipe.

It is my recommendation that you consult with a professional plumber or inspector for any local code questions. Remember safety is first!

What venting material is used on a chimney vented heater?

The venting material is a metal pipe that typically transitions into a chimney liner. The first few feet of venting material before it reaches the chimney is most likely going to be a single-wall metal vent pipe or even a “B vent” pipe.

A “B vent” is used for venting gas appliances. It’s a double-wall metal pipe. That means it has two layers – an outer wall and an inner wall. The double-wall “B vent” does three things:

1) It helps radiate the heat better

2) It doesn’t get as hot

3) It adds another layer to help keep any fumes or exhaust gases from leaking out

Normally you will see a ninety degree bend and then a section of straight metal pipe that leads into the chimney. The length will vary depending on how far away your chimney is from the hot water heater.

The size of that metal venting will be 3″ or 4″ in diameter depending on the water heater venting requirements. Once it reaches the chimney it’s then connected to either a “B vent” metal venting or a chimney liner that will travel all the way up the chimney and terminate at the top.

Functionality of the venting

Since the chimney vent, hot water heaters exhaust gases naturally rise and travel through the venting. The room air gets pulled in through the draft diverter that sits on top of the water heater. The venting then connects to the draft diverter. As the air travels through the venting it carries the exhaust gases with it. It then exits through the chimney and out the top.

Another reason contractors vent through the chimney is because sometimes that’s the best option. If you’re pressed for space, venting through the chimney makes the most sense. If you think about it, that’s one less hole coming out of your house. Who wants to see a bunch of roof terminations anyway. If you’re like me and value the aesthetics of your home you would appreciate that.

I’m sure if you have a chimney vented water heater you’ll see that the hot water heater itself is probably placed really close to the chimney, or at least as close to it as feasible. That just makes the most sense to have the heater’s footprint as close as possible to the chimney.

You wouldn’t really want the heater to be more than just a few feet away from your chimney. There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s just more pipe to run and more pipe in your basement. Which could just take up that precious basement space that we all need.

For the aesthetic and functionality of your mechanics, it makes the most sense to put the water heater as close as possible to the chimney. There’s a good chance your furnace is vented into your chimney as well.

Safety considerations

Venting gas appliances properly is very important. That starts with the install. If you have your water heater installed per the manufacture specs you will be good to go. Keeping your venting clear of any debris is also just as important. If you happen to have a missing flue cap or screen that can be an access point for debris and that can be a problem that you will want to address right away.

I’ve had many plumbers send me pictures of vent pipes that were severely clogged. Sometimes with just nesting debris and sometimes with dead squirrels or birds… it’s not a pretty picture.

This can cause major problems and pose a safety concern for you and your family. You see if the venting is blocked it will create a backdraft and then the exhaust gases will come back into the house. Having your chimney inspected every so often would be a good idea.

Have a carbon monoxide detector

It’s definitely a best practice to have a carbon monoxide detector in your basement and if possible on every level of your home. If there was ever an issue with your hot water heaters venting you would be alarmed by the carbon monoxide detector. I personally really like the combo ones that are a smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector in one.

The next time that you have a plumber over for any maintenance or plumbing project you could ask them to just check out your water heaters venting to ensure that it’s venting properly and that it’s clear of any debris. Their experts and should have no problem taking a look at that for you.

If you want to do a quick test to see if you’re getting proper venting flow. Just put your hand close to the draft diverter that’s on top of your water heater. You should feel the cool air being pulled up into the vent. If you feel warm air pushing out of the vent then that is a problem and you should call a professional plumber right away. The safety of yourself and your family is always the number one priority.

Lastly, I want to thank you for taking the time to learn about chimney vent water heaters and some of the venting options that apply to conventional atmospheric hot water heaters. Please consider taking a look at my other articles and please share this post if you think someone could benefit from this.

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