I just installed a new American Standard Cadet 3 toilet.
Main problem is that the water in the bowl continuously (and slowly) drops. After about 9 hours, the bowl had emptied to the point of almost letting air in (if I described that right...). I could see the water level dropping last night as well (an inch or two in a couple of hours).
While the level was dropping (such as overnight) no other water was being used in the house (i.e. nothing was going down other drains).
I did have an issue with the flange being below the floor level and used plastic flange extensions to build it up to about 1/4" above floor level. I will describe this in a second, but my understanding is that this could not lead to water level in the bowl dropping on its own (irrepective of whether I did something wrong with the extension).
On the flange extension, I followed instructions and cleaned off the existing flange as well as possible, applied a bead of caulk/sealant and then placed two 1/4" extensions on top (with no sealant between the two extensions, just sealant between the flange and the first extension). The flange extensions are not bolted together to the flange, but rather it is just the weight of the toilet and the bolts holding the toilet down to the floor that compress the extensions together. I then installed the toilet using a wax ring (with plastic insert) and tightened everything. Once tightened down, there was no rocking or movement of the toilet at all.
There was no sign of water leaking on the floor from the bottom except that when I slipped a paper towel between the floor and the bottom of the toilet (the opening in spots is just big enough to fit a paper towel under), the paper towel was wicking water up (and the entire paper towel would be wet in a few minutes). When I first installed the toilet, I was flushing it many times, but this did not seem to increase the amount of water under the toilet (and I mean under the toilet as no water was running out on the tile near the base of the toilet).
My main question is am I right that with the water level dropping in the bowl like this, it must be a crack in the toilet somewhere? I am not a plumber by any stretch (and not a plumber's assistant...or a plumber's assistant's assistant...
) so I recognize I could have made some mistakes in installing, but am I right that even if the wax ring seal was messed up or the flange entensions were not done right, that neither of these could lead to the water level in the bowl dropping like this?
Thanks for any help. I am preparing to take the bowl back to Home Depot to get a replacement but wanted to check here first to see if my conclusion was right.
Main problem is that the water in the bowl continuously (and slowly) drops. After about 9 hours, the bowl had emptied to the point of almost letting air in (if I described that right...). I could see the water level dropping last night as well (an inch or two in a couple of hours).
While the level was dropping (such as overnight) no other water was being used in the house (i.e. nothing was going down other drains).
I did have an issue with the flange being below the floor level and used plastic flange extensions to build it up to about 1/4" above floor level. I will describe this in a second, but my understanding is that this could not lead to water level in the bowl dropping on its own (irrepective of whether I did something wrong with the extension).
On the flange extension, I followed instructions and cleaned off the existing flange as well as possible, applied a bead of caulk/sealant and then placed two 1/4" extensions on top (with no sealant between the two extensions, just sealant between the flange and the first extension). The flange extensions are not bolted together to the flange, but rather it is just the weight of the toilet and the bolts holding the toilet down to the floor that compress the extensions together. I then installed the toilet using a wax ring (with plastic insert) and tightened everything. Once tightened down, there was no rocking or movement of the toilet at all.
There was no sign of water leaking on the floor from the bottom except that when I slipped a paper towel between the floor and the bottom of the toilet (the opening in spots is just big enough to fit a paper towel under), the paper towel was wicking water up (and the entire paper towel would be wet in a few minutes). When I first installed the toilet, I was flushing it many times, but this did not seem to increase the amount of water under the toilet (and I mean under the toilet as no water was running out on the tile near the base of the toilet).
My main question is am I right that with the water level dropping in the bowl like this, it must be a crack in the toilet somewhere? I am not a plumber by any stretch (and not a plumber's assistant...or a plumber's assistant's assistant...
) so I recognize I could have made some mistakes in installing, but am I right that even if the wax ring seal was messed up or the flange entensions were not done right, that neither of these could lead to the water level in the bowl dropping like this?Thanks for any help. I am preparing to take the bowl back to Home Depot to get a replacement but wanted to check here first to see if my conclusion was right.
