Fernco Wax Free Toilet Seal for 4" Drain Pipe

Two years ago, I saw unpleasant evidence that one of our toilets on the slab portion of our home (we have two like this) had bowl seal/wax ring failure. Upon taking up the toilet and cleaning out the wax ring (just lovely), I found that the flange had been partially broken and was now rusting and failing in one spot.At the time, my mother-in-law was literally on a plane to stay with us for an extended time, and I did not want to contact a Rip-Off Rooter type plumber that gouges one under such dire circumstances, so it was off to the big box store to buy a handful of wax rings. I always had bought more than one when replacing them, because it always goes hit or miss for me setting a toilet down just right. To save my marriage, I am usually working alone.After trying single and double-stacking the most expensive wax rings, I was let down with failure after each installation. One of the problems I had was that the toilet I was trying to seat was a single unit type, not a separate base and tank. So it was especially heavy and cumbersome when trying to line up the closet screws with the holes. And because I had to rely on the wax to seal a portion of the defective flange, things had to be perfect, and I was not getting anything like that. After three tries, I decided I must try another product.I bought a pair of each competing "no wax ring" products and brought them home. The 4" Fernco is the one I tried first. It occurred to me that if the adhesive system worked as well as Fernco said, all of my problems would be solved because 1) The device was long enough to get the waste beyond the failed flange, 2) The Fernco device looked to offer assistance in knowing whether or not positioning was correct.For my part, I used a 1/2" dowel and a light hammer tapping to seat the Fernco device by tapping the lip all the way around. For my efforts, the Fernco device attached strongly to the toilet went right into place. It was actually tall enough and strong enough to hold the toilet 3" or so above the flange so that I could orient the toilet to the position of the closet bolts. Once there, it was a very satisfying feeling while pushing the toilet home into the right spot, some very good feedback as each flute of the device passed the lip of the flange and made contact/encountered resistance with the 4" ABS receptacle below.Some have said that these are no longer available at Home Depot or Lowes, and that is absolutely true in Northern California. When I purchased mine at Lowes a couple years ago, I found many had been previously unboxed and curious customers had taken off the protective wrapper and manhandled and manipulated the vital sticky surface, leaving oil and their fingerprints. I had to hunt to find a pristine one. I suppose this abuse of their product on the shelves by curious customers produced a lot of returns and the withdrawal of this product.As it happens, this past month we decided to replace the floors of the slab bathrooms, so I had two toilets to come up. The Fernco outfitted toilet required a real heft to lift away and the Fernco product stayed stuck in the flange after letting go from the toilet. It was easy to remove with large needle-nose plyers. My second toilet was also in a similar state of flange failure with a crack and rust. The toilets I have now are not original to the home (talked to the developer about this and other things), and I now know the previous owner of my home probably dropped or improperly set the toilet down on the closet screws, damaging the flange. I took pictures of the damage and sent them to a reputable plumber who does not take short-cuts. He wanted to remove the flanges, pour some new quick setting concrete around one of the toilets, replace both the flanges, and then place both the toilets on wax rings. All for $650.Gang, I happen to sometimes take short cuts.This repair can wait 2-3 years until this home becomes a rental property and I can deduct the repair expenses. I had two of these fresh from Amazon on hand and ready to go. The people at Amazon did not open the package and screw around with the Fernco product. Wam, bam, both back in place in 90 minutes and no leaks after 21 days.Ten stars if possible. Thanks Fernco!

This is the easiest way to seal a toilet when working solo. You can't miss and mess up anything. The seal has a peal and stick area that makes it cling to the toilet. Just pick it up and lineup the bolts. once you set it down, just a little pressure seats it perfectly. If you miss, don't worry. Just pick it up and try again. The seal stays stuck to the toilet. It is very durable and you can use it over and over. Throw out the old wax rings.

Update 7 years after installation: I noticed brown staining around the base of the toilet and a sewage smell in the bathroom. I talked to my plumber and he recommends against this type of product for exactly this type of reason. It seemed clear that this wax free seal was leaking. So I bought a wax ring from home depot to replace this. When I pulled the toilet up I found that the wax free seal's adhesive to the toilet had come loose allowing sewage to spill up over the sides. My plumber says that this kind of leakage can get into the slab and even crack the slab. Changing my rating to 1 star. This product needs to be reliable over time otherwise it's not worth it.Relatedly, this was a real pain in the butt to pull out of the drain because the "flared ridges" or whatever you want to call them.This was my first toilet removal and installation, and after reading the reviews here (and on the 3" version) I decided I needed to try this. I was a little worried because I measured my drainpipe opening at slightly smaller than 4", about 3.9". But I figured that the 4" must be the right size - and it ended up fitting fine (or maybe my hover measurement method was inaccurate).During toilet installation, first I followed another reviewer's advice and made sure that the waxless seal was centered with the closet bolt holes and not just the drain pipe! On my particular toilet, the closet both holes were centered with the drain hole, so I just slapped the fernco wax free seal directly on the middle of the drain hole.The only tricky part during installation was when I lowered the toilet onto the pipe and closet bolts - the Fernco wax free seal had a tendency to bend and flex instead of fitting smoothly into the hole (and yes I lubed it up with dish soap). I had to reach my gloved arm underneath the toilet to help guide the Fernco seal into the drain pipe - after I did that it sealed quite nicely.The frustrating part of this had nothing to do with the product (5 stars for that), it was the slow shipping from Denny And Kathy's Superstore. I ordered it in the early AM of January 30 2012, they shipped it on February 2 (at least that's when I was notified) and I received it on February 8, 2012. That's 8 business days without a toilet! (I had to remove the old toilet to measure the drain pipe before ordering). Or maybe I'm just really spoiled by Amazon Prime. In any case, Denny and Kathy did send me what I ordered at a low price, and they are most of the way across the country so I can't complain too much.BTW This is the toilet I installed using this Fernco: American Standard 2889.216.020 H2Option Siphonic Dual Flush Round Front Toilet, WhiteMy only remaining concern about this product is that when it comes time to pull this toilet out, removal might be a real female dog.

Tried multiple toilet seals and this is the only that stopped the leak. Was able to bypass any issue with the flange due to the long reach of the item.