I’ve been making toilet seals for 20 years. Wax rings put my kids through school. But I’m going to say something that might sound weird coming from a wax ring manufacturer: rubber seals are eating our lunch. And honestly? They should be.
Let me show you the numbers.
A buddy sent me a Google Trends screenshot last month. “Dude, look at this.” The search line for “wax-free toilet seal” looked like a hockey stick. Up 340% in five years. Not gradual growth — straight up. Meanwhile “wax ring” is flat. People are figuring out there’s a better way.
Reddit tells the same story. I spent way too many nights scrolling through r/Plumbing (don’t judge me, it’s literally my job) and the shift is real. Five years ago, if someone asked “wax or rubber?” the top answer was always wax. Always. Now? The rubber comments get upvoted to the moon.
Here’s one that made me laugh — a DIY guy on r/HomeImprovement: “I am not a plumber. I am a guy who does not want to do this twice. The rubber seal let me fix my mistake without buying a second ring.” That’s the thing. Wax rings are unforgiving. You set the toilet down wrong, you’re buying a new ring. With rubber, you just lift and reposition. Done.
The pros are split though. r/Plumbing’s old guard still swears by wax. “30 years, never had a callback.” Fair. But there’s this younger plumber — 12 years in, not exactly a rookie — who switched to rubber after melting a wax ring on a heated bathroom floor. Heated floors are getting more common, and wax melts around 140°F. Physics, man.
The market data backs this up. In Germany, searches for “Gummidichtung WC” are almost triple the wax equivalent. France is up 180% year over year. Russia went up 320%. Here’s what I actually think: wax rings aren’t going anywhere. They’re cheap, they work. But the growth is in rubber. If you’re an importer only stocking wax, you’re leaving money on the table.
We make both at Sunwell. I don’t care which one you buy — I just want you to know what the data says.