The Kohler K-3654 is an elongated toilet and is available in four colors, white, almond, biscuit, and black. The Persuade is a skirted design that offers straight to the floor and straight back to the wall design lines giving the toilet a very clean appearing design that also makes keeping the bathroom clean easy without a flange around the base of the toilet to gather dirt and dust. WaterSense Certification has requirements for both water usage and flushing ability that assure any WaterSense Certified toilet has the ability to flush at least 350 grams of solids per flush, which would cover the fecal size of the male population to the 99.5 percentile range. This introduction of the new low flow standards is destined to go a lot better than the introduction of the original 1.6 gallon per flush toilets did where a plunger next to the toilet became commonplace. The Kohler Persuade K-3654 elongated toilet with its K-4322 bowl and K-4419 tank combination is listed in the 15^th edition of the MaP Report as flushing 600 grams of solids per flush, which is a decent performing flush unlikely to frequently clog. The Kohler Persuade is also eligible for rebates in sixteen states in the US and four provinces in Canada.

The skirted design of the Kohler Persuade K-3654 elongated toilet makes the rough in dimensions critical with the toilet having a “Strict” 12” rough in according to Kohler. The skirt extends back close to the wall makings the rough in very unforgiving and even the placement of the angle stop valve for the water supply to the toilet has a critical location where it may obstruct putting the toilet in place. Other drawbacks to the skirted design going so far back to the wall include making repairs more difficult to both accomplish and diagnose. Virtually any of the common repair tasks that are typically performed one or more times in the expected service life of the toilet such as replacement of the supply line, replacement of a fill valve, or, replacement of the tank to bowl connection components such as the bolts, sealing washers and tank to bowl gasket will require the toilet setting to be undone from the floor to allow the task to be accomplished adding extra cost to the repair. Diagnosing leaks at these locations will also be hampered by the lack of a clear view while the toilet is mounted and the inability to have the toilet function while dismounted. In short the degree of difficulty for installation and repair for these toilets make them a plumber’s nightmare and as usual with designs where appearance comes before function owners should expect to pay extra.

The Kohler Persuade K-3654 Toilet has a bowl rim height of 15 ¾” (40 cm) and extends 27 5/8” (70.2 cm) out from the wall, the tank is 14 3/16” (36 cm) wide and the top of the tank is 31 ½” (80 cm) high off the floor. The Kohler Persuade is only available in the 12” (30.5 cm) rough in, it has a 2” (5.1 cm) trapway, and a 4 ½” (11.4 cm) X 5 ¾” (14.6 cm) water spot in the bowl. The Kohler Persuade is supplied without a seat and the K-4664 Brevia or, K-4761 Avantis Quiet Close Seat must be purchased separately. The Kohler Persuade K-3654 in white has an MSRP of 478.05 and comes with a 1-Year Limited Warranty. The Persuade is also available at Lowe’s and Home Depot.

The Jacuzzi Espree WaterSense High Performance Elongated Toilet is a 2 piece toilet and is available in white only and comes in the taller ADA height which many adults find to be far more comfortable to use. Young children however will probably need a step stool to comfortably use the toilet. The Jacuzzi Espree has a clean looking skirted design which many manufacturers are now producing models with. The skirted design makes cleaning an easy task with clean lines that extend straight down to the floor with no place for dirt and dust to accumulate. The design does have some drawbacks though as it makes setting the toilet much more difficult and when the skirt is extended back close to the wall as is done with the Jacuzzi Espree the connections for the water supply and fill valve replacement can only be accomplished with the toilet removed for its setting. The positioning of the angle stop valve is also critical and when the Espree is replacing an existing toilet the water supply coming out of the wall or, floor may have to be moved to avoid interference with the skirt. In addition you will be facing higher costs whenever a repair of anything more than a flapper replacement is required. The Jacuzzi Espree has a fully glazed 2 1/8” trapway and a 3” flush valve, which is the norm for achieving high flushing performance with low amounts of water usage. The Jacuzzi Espree is a complete kit with the tank, bowl, seat, wax ring and closet bolts for mounting the toilet. The Espree is designed for a 12” rough-in and has a bowl rim height of 16 1/2 “ with the top of the tank 32 5/8” high off the floor, weighing in at 112 lbs.

The Jacuzzi Espree WaterSense High Performance Elongated Toilet is rated buy most purchasers as average with complaints about a difficult installation and difficult access to the connections for water supply, fill valve and tank to bowl nuts. While there were almost no complaints about the flushing ability of the toilet there were many complaints about the bowl wash and streaking in the bowl after use making frequent cleaning of the bowl necessary. The purchasers also complained about the quality of the seat and the wax ring and closet bolts included in the kit. While toilet comes with a 5-Year Guarantee, purchasers will discover that the stores where they purchased the toilet do not carry the replacement parts and they are only obtainable by calling Jacuzzi often with a 5-7 day wait for parts to arrive. The Jacuzzi Espree is available priced in the $230 range at Lowe’s and other locations including On-Line. One of the possibilities of flush-related complaints is probably due to the toilet being installed with a wax ring that has a plastic funnel shaped horn built into the ring. Many people erroneously see the plastic horn being something useful in preventing leaks however they often end up causing leaks and in some cases may cause interference with the fit of the outlet from the toilet and closet flanges where the plastic horn pinches closed causing clogs to form. While the Jacuzzi Espree has decent flushing ability and an attractive appearance, purchasers should carefully consider the lack of bowl wash, difficult installation and maintenance caused by the design and replacement parts availability.

The Jacuzzi Perfecta High Performance Round Complete Toilet has gotten fairly good reviews from consumers with slightly lower grades for design and quality. Some users did not like the seat provided with the toilet and when trying to obtain replacement parts found they had to be special ordered with a 5-7 day wait for them to arrive. Also getting bad marks was the closet bolts and wax ring, which many users elected to upgrade to a higher quality by purchasing separately. I would also suggest doing that using a set of 5/16” brass closet bolts and a wax ring that does not have a built in plastic horn. The wax rings with plastic horns have many people thinking that they help prevent leaks with the funnel shaped horn but the reality is they often cause more leaks than they ever prevented. The funnel often interferes with the fit of the outlet horn into the closet flange often causing a leak or, pinching closed obstructing the outlet of the toilet causing clogs to form. Overall people will probably think this is not too bad of a toilet for the lower priced ones available and other than the parts supply problem be relatively satisfied with the Jacuzzi Perfecta.

If you see water running over the top of the overflow tube the fill valve the fill valve has either failed or, it is not adjusted properly. You can try to adjust it to maintain the water level at the water level marked on the tank or overflow tube if there is a mark or, 5/8” below the top of the overflow tube. If once adjusted the fill valve cannot maintain the level but continues to allow the water level to rise above the top of the overflow the fill valve or, ballcock should be replaced. In many cases a Fluidmaster 400A is an ideal replacement.

If the water is not going over the top of the overflow tube but the water level drops down and the fill valve or, ballcock turns on to replenish the tank water level then the problem is water getting past the flapper. In most cases replacing the flapper with a new flapper of the proper type for your toilet, installed properly will solve the problem however, in some cases there may be other problems allowing the leakage.

• If the bowl refill tube from the fill valve to the overflow tube is inserted into the overflow tube below the water level in the tank it can siphon water from the tank down into the overflow tube. The refill tube should clip onto the overflow tube above the top of the overflow tube.

• On some toilets the rubber gasket below the flush valve can deteriorate from chemicals in the water and ripple up causing interference, which keeps the flapper from seating properly. I have frequently seen this on Kohler toilets and in most cases was able to trim off the ripples in the rubber gasket with a single edge razor blade allowing the flapper to seat properly.

• The flapper chain being too tight can cause the flapper to leak. The chain should have slack then the handle is released and the flapper seated.

• Check the flapper chain hook’s position on the tank lever to make sure the hook does not run a risk of catching additional links on the flapper chain when running through the flush cycle. Move the hooks position as required to prevent problems.

• Excess flapper chain landing under the flapper can cause the not to seat properly. The excess chain should be cut off and thrown away. I usually just leave about 3 extra links just in case additional adjustment is needed.

• Problems with the handle and tank lever causing inconsistencies in the chain tightness can cause the chain to be too tight at times causing leakage, the handle and tank lever should move smoothly and not stick or bind if it doesn’t replace the handle and tank lever. Sometimes the mount may be loose in the hole in the toilet tank allowing the position of the tank lever to vary. If this is happening keep the tank lever in it highest possible resting position when adjusting the flapper chain slack. When you do this procedure the chain can never become too tight causing leakage.

A leaking toilet can waste huge amounts of water everyday without you even realizing it because it runs right through the toilet and down the drain without you ever seeing a puddle of water. You can easily be wasting as much as two hundred gallons of water a day and never know it until you get your water bill. A $5 flapper or, $10 fill valve is cheap compared to what three months of a toilet pouring two hundred gallons of water a day down the drain could cost.

Also being made available in January 2010 is a nearly identical model that the only difference I could detect was the water consumption was 1.6 gallons per flush. Both of the models have a 12” rough in dimension and they are also available in the colors of White, Bone, and Linen and have a MSRP of $895 – $1,119.

Unlike the editors of the trade publication this toilet is not receiving an “Editors Choice” award at 411Plumb. The details at this time are not complete but numerous questions are raised from my plumber’s point of view. Many of the toilets in the low water consumption category suffer from a lack of bowl wash and none of the promo literature at this time suggests the American Standard Town Square FloWise Elongated 1-Piece Toilet is being available with the EverClean finish that American Standard provides on many of it’s other low flow toilets. The EverClean surface is a super smooth glaze that greatly reduces staining in the bowl allowing it to stay cleaner longer. I question whether the “PowerWash” rim is adequate for bowl wash. The Squared off tank that extends full width to the floor makes the positioning of the angle stop valve critical and moving the angle stop will be required in many cases where the toilet is being installed on a rough in that was not intended special for this toilet. The concealed bolt holes are a headache for plumbers when setting a toilet but there are quite a few toilets out now that are similar in this design and I can understand the desire of many homeowners for the clean, straight, flat sides that make cleaning easy. What I can’t understand is the skirt of the tank extending to the floor and nearly back to the wall. This obscures the water supply connection and the nut securing the fill valve to the tank making repairs difficult for the plumber. I’m not looking forward to doing repairs or, installing this toilet for that reason alone. From the pictures provided I could easily see this toilet being pulled from the floor in order to replace the fill valve. While there may be enough room to do the work without pulling the toilet in a wide-open bathroom put this toilet in tight quarters next to a tub or vanity and I see a difficult maintenance task. The most commonly replaced parts on toilets are the fill valve and flapper often at about 5-year intervals and this just made the work more difficult, expect the labor costs to be passed on. Also the weight of this product was not mentioned in any of the literature but it looks like it could be substantial. The only award coming from 411 Plumb is the “What Are They Thinking Award.”

The Sloan Flushmate Pressure Assisted Flushing System has taken a predominant place in the industry and is the choice of many toilet manufacturers in four continents worldwide including American Standard, Corona, Gerber, HCG, Kohler, Lamosa, Mancesa, Mansfield, Orion, Peerless Pottery, St. Thomas Creations, Vitra, Vitromex, Vortens, Western, and Xinqi. Sloan Flushmate has not been without competition through the years. Many toilet manufacturers have come out with their own systems only to experience less than satisfactory results which resulted in the manufacturer discontinuing them and their support for their system, switching over to the Sloan Flushmate System. Sloan has managed to have their highly sucessful design become the “Industry Standard.” If you are purchasing a Pressure Assisted Toilet and it does not have the Sloan Flushmate System installed I would recommend strongly that you reconsider your choice. The proven track record of other manufacturers is non-existent.

The Sloan Flushmate System uses a pressure tank within the porcelain tank of the toilet so it looks like any other toilet. However, that is where the similarities end. The Flushmate Tank fills with water and has air under pressure above the water in the tank. When you flush the toilet the water is propelled out of the Flushmate tank under pressure and through the internal water passages of the toilet to the jet at the bottom of the bowl where it blasts out of the jet propelling the waste up through the trapway of the toilet. Once the tank finishes discharging in about 5 seconds the tank starts refilling for the next use. The fact that the Sloan Flushmate Pressure Assisted Toilet flushes in five seconds vs. 13 seconds for the gravity toilets gives it a much higher water flow rate but for a shorter duration. This provides the energy for a fast powerful bowl cleaning flush.

The Sloan FlushMate IV Pressure Assisted Toilet uses only 1 gallon of water to flush and exceeds WaterSense Certification Standards.

Flushmate Tank within the tank design

The new Sloan Flushmate IV exceeds the WaterSense High Efficiency Toilet standard by using only 1 gallon of water to flush a toilet. This should prove to be a big savings in water usage for many facilities such as colleges, hospitals, hotels, and light commercial buildings such as offices and restaurants. Claremont McKenna College, Claremont, CA, was able to reduce water usage at its facilities by 25% per month by using toilets with the Sloan Flushmate System. The school has eight research institutes and houses 900 students and approximately 250 other employees and faculty on campus. If you purchase a EPA WaterSense Certified toilet that uses the Sloan Flushmate IV Pressure Assisted Flushing System you may be eligible for rebates in many areas of the US and Canada. Check with your state, or provincial government as well as your local water supplier for availability as well as terms and conditions.

A Flushmate Toilet flushes over twice as fast than a gravity toilet.

The Sloan Flushmate Pressure Assisted Toilets offer phenomenal flushing power that clears the bowl in one flush. Toilets equipped with the Sloan Flushmate System rarely clog and give the performance required in commercial applications. A Sloan Flushmate equipped toilet requires a minimum water pressure of 35 PSI. this makes it suitable for installation in most buildings including residential. A drawback to some people in a residential installation would be the noise of operation. Sloan has recently made some design changes which lower noise but to some users it may seem loud especially for those middle of the night uses. Another drawback for residential usage could be parts availability and pricing. If you are in an area that is predominantly residential parts may have to be ordered and take a day or two for delivery. The parts for the Sloan Flushmate while highly reliable tend to be a little higher than the costs of parts for a gravity flush toilet.

You can buy Sloan Flushmate Pressure Assisted Toilets at Lowes, Home Depot, and many plumbing supply houses.

If you have any questions or comments please leave them below and I’ll answer them for you.

For many years Wellworth was a blemish on Kohler name which to many people stood for good products. Unfortunately the Kohler Wellworth with its original Ingenium Flushing System which is another wording for same old flushing system was widely recognized as a toilet that didn’t flush well at all. Numerous customers of mine were amazed when I told them their toilet stunk. They blindly thought that the Kohler name stood for great products. For the people that bought the original Wellworth they became very experienced with the use of the plunger.

Fortunately, with the Kohler Wellworth upgrade to the Class Five Flushing System, respect again returns to Kohler and they finally have a Wellworth that flushes again. The Class Five Flushing System is a design which follows the basic thought of getting the water from the tank to the bowl as fast as possible and from the bowl to the drain line as fast as possible. To accomplish this, the flush valve is enlarged, as are the internal water passages of the toilet and the trapway out of the bowl. This results in a phenomenally fast flush that carries large amounts of waste out of the bowl without clogging. This design characteristic was adopted by many companies including Kohler as they came out with the Super Toilets. Many of the other manufacturers discontinued production or upgraded the design of their original toilets except for a few of the inexpensive models to the improved flushing systems. Kohler has left the Wellworth alone and was concentrating on the newer Super Toilets. It is refreshing to see them go back and do this upgrade of the Wellworth to make it flush better.

The Class Five Upgrade utilizes a canister valve instead of a flapper which raises some concerns as far as proprietary parts go in my mind, but we’ll have to see what kind of service frequency is required, what parts are required for repair, and their availability is. They also make a big change as to how the tank mounts to the bowl with a new system that was first employed on the Kohler Cimarron toilets. This system eliminates the tank to bowl bolts from being inside the tank of the toilet and going through the tank to connect to the bowl. Instead a bracket is secured to the tank by the flush valve nut and the tank to bowl bolts slip into the bracket then through the base to secure the tank to the base. This method of attachment eliminates possibilities of the tank leaking caused by either deteriorating bolts or rubber sealing washers where the bolts went through the tank. I have installed many Kohler Cimarron toilets that used this same system and found it to be one of the easiest assembly projects I have ever done on a toilet.

The short story here is Kohler has done their engineering work and given the Kohler Wellworth a rebirth and a new chance to be recognized as one of the better toilets. It’s a shame they made us wait so long for this moment. I revise my recommendation to the Kohler Wellworth being a toilet worth of consideration for purchase.

The Kohler Complete Solution Round Front Toilet K-11471 MSRP is $198.25

The Kohler Complete Solution Elongated Front Toilet K-11473 MSRP is $293.65

These toilets can be found at Lowes, Home Depot, and many other locations.

The first thing you need to do when selecting a toilet is the rough in dimension. This determines how well the toilet fits against the wall when put on the closet flange mounted on your floor or, if it even will fit. Measure the distance from the rear set of bolts securing the toilet to the floor, to the finished wall surface in inches. Do not measure to the base board. Standard rough in dimensions are 10, 12, and 14 inches with 12” being the most popular and having the greatest selection of toilets. Moving the flange on the floor can become a costly change and should be avoided.

There are a number of things that you should consider before purchasing and if done properly you will be rewarded with having a toilet being something you never have to think about except for routine maintenance about every 5 years. Blindly rushing into purchasing could leave you with a toilet that doesn’t flush well or, breaks often, or, breaks and has hard to find, expensive, or, proprietary parts that require 3 weeks to arrive from a manufacturer. Imagine that! Waiting 3 weeks for parts to arrive from the manufacturer for the only toilet in your home is totally unacceptable.

One thing people should consider if they are redoing a bathroom or, kitchen is colors. Throughout history there have been a number of popular colors used. We have all visited homes either owned by friends and relatives or, that we were being shown by a realtor. In these homes we frequently see colors that were very popular when installed yet in the years since have fallen out of favor. Some are downright objectionable. Would you like an Avocado themed bathroom or, kitchen in your home? White and Chrome as bland as it may seem are what I would consider safe colors to select. They have remained the highest selling color and the one with the greatest selection of products all through the years. You do not run the risk of others looking at your kitchen or bath as dated and ugly, or detracting from the value of your home when selling. Many people replacing a color fixture find them selves in the position of trying to match colors that can’t be found. In this situation I would recommend going for a white and chrome mismatch possibly upgrading the rest of the fixtures at a later date. It won’t look as bad as you think.

How well the toilet flushes should be a major consideration. Rather than rely on ambiguous good, better, best designations assigned by stores or manufacturers I would rely on a resource known as the MaP Report for that information. This report is a Cooperative Canadian & American Project published by Veritec Consulting Inc. and Koeller and Company, it is periodically updated (approximately every four to six months) and is available free of charge on the websites of the Canadian Water and Wastewater Association (CWWA), California Urban Water Conservation Council (CUWCC), U.S. – Canadian Alliance for Water Efficiency (AWE) and Veritec Consulting Inc. The MaP Report is not an end all to your flushing considerations. It is only a flushing performance test and quality other than the toilet working through the test is not considered nor is bowl wash. A great flushing toilet that you have to brush after every use could be very irritating. A toilet with the highest MaP score given of 1,000 grams per flush may have sacrificed bowl wash to gain flushing ability. All things considered the EPA WaterSense Program adopted 350 grams per flush as the minimum standard because it covers the fecal size of the male population to 99.5 percentile threshold. 1,000 grams per flush is overkill except for unusual medical conditions.

The next consideration after flushing ability is the quality and availability of parts, and proprietary parts. Many of the lower end toilets particularly the no name specials and the complete kits in a box use low quality parts. Things such as the bolts that secure the tank to the bowl change from solid brass to yellow zinc plated bolts which will be exposed to water in the tank and corrode causing a leak or, the tank to fall off the bowl. Look for parts to be brass or even plastic rather than steel and die cast zinc. Tank levers made of plastic will operate fine for many years as long as the flapper is changed when needed. The only time they break is when the flapper is bad and it becomes very hard to open. Look at the parts in the tank that will make the toilet work you want to see replacement parts that are commonly available. The clerk should be able to show you replacement parts in stock on their shelves, when they can’t red flags should start waving. Toilets that use innovative designs where the only replacement parts that are available are from the manufacturer should be another red flag, as you are relying on that manufacturer staying in business or supporting that design for the entire time you have the toilet in your bathroom. Toilets sold at stores such as the wholesale clubs are frequently one time shipments from China and have little support for parts.

Many manufacturers have also made their own pressure assisted toilet designs over the years. The pressure assisted design is where there is a pressure tank within the tank of the toilet. These pressure assisted toilets wouldn’t be my top choice for a residential use as they are loud and sometimes spray water out of the bowl but they do flush well. Many of the well designed gravity flush designs flush as well as pressure assisted toilets with a much lower cost of repair parts. The pressure assisted designs made by toilet manufacturers have proven to be short lived with manufacturer support dropping after the line was discontinued and the manufacturer switched to the Sloan Flushmate pressure assisted system for use in their toilet. If you are buying a pressure assisted toilet and it does not have the Sloan Flushmate system once again red flags should wave. Even Kohler discontinued support for their pressure assisted system changing over to the Sloan design. Kohler did offer a retrofit tank for their 2 piece toilets and a coupon towards a new Kohler toilet for those who purchased 1 piece toilets.

High Efficiency Toilet Water Saving Chart

Toilets available today flush with 1.6 gallons of water per flush, this was a standard adopted to save water back in the early 90’s. Recently toilets were introduced that save additional water by being dual flush with a combined use average of 1.28 gallons per flush or single flush with 1.28 gallons per flush. These toilets carry the EPA WaterSense Certification and are eligible for rebates in many areas. Check with your local, state, provincial governments as well as your water provider to determine if rebates are available and how to receive them.

Many of the new low flow toilets come with special super slick glazes that aid in keeping the toilet clean. This becomes critical with the supper low flow toilets available as bowl wash is a serious issue and constant brushing after use is not something you want to have to do.

Another important consideration with a replacement toilet is the base of the toilet. The floor under the existing toilet will be ugly and probably not come clean. You want to ensure the base of the replacement will cover the existing toilet footprint as much as possible. Dimensional drawings are available on line from manufacturers to see how well a toilet fits.

As you can see selecting a new toilet is not just as simple as running down to Lowes, or Home Depot and buying one. Seeing as you will probably be using the toilet much longer than any car you will ever own, possibly as long as you own your home you should consider your purchase carefully to ensure satisfaction. Done properly the first time the toilet can go back to being that forgotten fixture that you use five times each day without even thinking about it.

The first thing to check is inside the tank. Remove the tank lid and set it on the floor. Tank lids can break easily and be hard to replace especially on older toilets putting the lid on the floor makes sure that it will not fall and break. Make sure the water level in the tank is at the proper level. It should be either to the water line marked on the tank, 5/8″ below the top of the overflow tube or, the line on the overflow tube. If the water is spilling over the top of the overflow tube, stop right now as you have found a big leak. Try adjusting the ballcock (fill valve) so the water level is maintained at the proper level. If the ballcock does not properly maintain the water level in the tank after being adjusted then it will need to be replaced. This is the silent leak that uses huge amounts of water.

The next two problems discussed usually result in what us plumbers call a ghost flush where you periodically hear the ballcock turn on and refill the tank even though no one has used the toilet. These are probably less dangerous in terms of wasting water because someone will hear the noise and usually take action to repair the problem.

The next thing to check is the tube that runs from the ballcock to the overflow tube. This tube is what refills the bowl with water after flushing. If this is shoved down into the overflow tube too far where it ends up being below the water level of the tank it will siphon water from the tank into the bowl where it then goes down the drain.

There are dye tablets available to test toilets. These are frequently available at plumbing supply houses, hardware stores, and Home centers. However, they are not required for the dye test as food coloring may be used. Put either the dye tablet or, food coloring into the tank. Do not flush the toilet! Wait 15 minutes then check back and see if the water in the bowl of the toilet has changed color. If the water has changed color the flapper should be replaced, then the toilet retested with the dye. In most cases the flapper replacement should fix the problem. Some times it may also be a case of the flapper chain being too tight or, a trip lever moving causing the chain to become tight as the lever moves.