Kohler Persuade K-3654 Toilet Review

The Kohler Persuade K-3654 Toilet is a two-piece, elongated dual flush toilet that meets the requirements of the EPA WaterSense Certification program. The Kohler Persuade uses a combination of a 1.6-gallon/6-liters per flush for solids and reduced 0.8 gallon/3-liters per flush for liquid and light paper waste to achieve the water savings required for WaterSense Certification.

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.