On Jul 1, 1:15*pm, "JoeSpareBedroom"
wrote:
Or maybe not a leak, per se. My first floor toilet began running constantly
between flushes 3 days ago. Not full blast, just a trickle to remind me of
how I'll be spending part of my Saturday. Or so I thought. Just noticed a
small puddle in the cellar below the toilet. It's the sewage pipe that's
wet, but the puddle smells clean. My first thought was that the supply pipe
got so cold from running constantly that what I was seeing was condensation,
but as far as I can see (because part of the supply pipe's hidden), that's
not the case.

Next thought: The cold water contracted part of the sewage pipe assembly
enough to leak. But again, based on the lack of smell, that's not it.

Nightmare thought: Wax ring. I don't want to think about that.

There's little or no condensation on the tank itself, and the floor in the
bathroom is dry. Luckily, it's not humid here today.

"Nightmare thought: Wax ring. I don't want to think about that. "

Relax.

Replacing the wax ring is *maybe* a 30 minute job from when you first
decide to do it until you're all cleaned up and sucking on a beverage.

I always keep a spare wax ring in the shop "just in case" I need to
pull the toilet.

It's a leftover habit from when the kids were young and all sorts of
things found their way into the toilet.

The "sneakiest" was the toilet paper roll that got lodged vertically
in the back of the toilet. Fluids flushed with no problem by the
slightest bit of solids/paper clogged it up as they got caught on the
tube. I snaked and found nothing 'cuz the snake went right through
the tube.

I finally gave in and pulled the toilet and found a pretty crappy
(literally) looking toilet paper roll sticking out of the bottom of
the toilet.