Best Bolts for Toilet tank/base

Corrosion and time suffice. Add steel bolts and a bronze or copper flange and corrosion goes to town. A little seal leakage helps things right along...

Stainless, and use anti-seize, and prepare for the floor being rotten when you get under there.

Your toilet flange may vary, but typically the floor bolts are in slots on the flange so that they can be replaced - 1/8 of a turn (of the whole toilet) would cause them to release, though you typically unbolt them (or cut them off if frozen) and remove the bowl, then slide the bolts to remove/replace. If the flange is not broken, I would not advise grouting them in - you should not need to.

titanium? ;)

....it would be an interesting experiment if you had the material/money to toss at it. I have seen every other kind of common metal hardware corrode under the same circumstances.

plus they'd be lighter-weight and stronger too. kind of like a 'professional', racing toilet....

Either, and be sure to use anti-seize if you use stainless, grease if you use bronze.

Repair kits include a clip for the bolt to attach to the flange. The problem is that many flanges rust away if there has been a prolonged leak. In that case you usually have to replace the downpipe, but sometimes you can use a flange repair kit.

Just the anti-seize, and DO replace both at the same time. Watch the height of the epoxy and spacing/center alignment on the studs.

-- Not merely an absence of noise, Real Silence begins when a reasonable being withdraws from the noise in order to find peace and order in his inner sanctuary. -- Peter Minard

Those bolts only get wet on top, just make sure the washer and the bolt are same material and any of your candidates are good. If the old bolts are bad... how old IS the toilet? Is it a low-flush model? The bowl-to-flange fasteners shouldn't get wet at all, except for condensation.

One caution: stuff a rag in the sewer pipe while the toilet is absent, to prevent interesting gas events.

If the tank to bowl bolts are needing to be replaced it may be time for a more efficient toilet.

After all the water saving design ideas were tried a refined and improved design maybe in order. This will replace the porcelain with a new slipperier inside finish that the crap doesn't stick to as much, maker is much less and easier cleaning.Most likely will save you water usage money also.

You must have corrosive water in the tank or corrosive cleaners have been used a lot, in which case it may be another indicator to spend a few hundred on a new finer pored porcelain model.

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It's about time for me to replace the bolts holding the toilet tank to the bowl. This prompts me to ask which would be better brass/bronze or stainless?

Also, it seems one of the studs/anchors for the bowl to the floor has also snapped (I don't recollect any particularly violent/stressful session that may have caused this)

I was probably going to use a stainless replacement stud (probably change both sides while I am at it - famous last words) and epoxy anchor "grout."

Any advice/suggestions/cautions?

Thanks

How would stainless bolts with bronze (or brass) nuts work? This is a classic anti-seize combination for things out in the weather, but I don't know if it's been used for toilets.

Joe Gwinn

Bronze has lasted longer than stainless in our water. The stainless rusted, just slower than if it were regular steel.

RWL

Stainless or marine bronze will work. If you choose stainless, use 316 studs, 304 washers and nuts with antisieze. Never use the same alloy of stainless for bolts and nuts or they will sieze.. Make certain that the studs will not be exposed to standing water or they will suffer crevise corrosion. Continuous moving water is no problem. Stagnent water will kill stainless. The water comes from cleaning not leakage. Steve

I had this issue with mine, a visit to HD showed what had changed in the 50 years or so since granddaddy was a plumber. I ended up going with stainless bolts, replaced the old cruddy metal anchor ring with a fiberglass unit and replaced the wax bowl seal with a nifty plastic/ neoprene snoot jobbie. This last actually extends down into the pipe, and has giant O-ring seals, so unless there's a total reversal of normal sewer flow, nothing is going to leak out. It'll also tolerate vibration and movement better than the wax. Replacing the old copper supply line and ballcock valve with a ball valve shutoff, a reinforced plastic flex line and a new plastic float unit finished it all up. No leaks and the water bill went way down. If you've gotta tear it apart, might as well do the complete number on it. Put in new gaskets and seals on the tank to lower unit, too. Figure I spent maybe $30 on the works, that was 7-8 years back.

Everything underneath there had been soaked because whoever replaced the works before didn't even bother with hold-down bolts. Just caulked the stool to the floor and let nature take its course. Talked to the supposedly "experienced" plumbing dept. guy at HD, said a lot of new local construction is done that way, by the time it leaks and is noticed, the construction company has declared bankruptcy and the homeowners get to replace the floor AND all the plumbing bits. Said it can last that way up to 5 years if they're lucky. The plumbing inspectors aren't getting the job done there, either paid off or goofing off.

The stainless bolts and bronze nuts are still shiny so far and no leaks. Stool is steady as a rock, it wasn't before.

Stan

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