Kohler Santa Rosa w/ AquaPiston reliable?

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K9mlxj

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I'm looking into Kohler Santa Rosa K3810 1-piece. Is it better than AS Fairfield 1-piece? Worth a try?

Things I'd like to confirm:

- porcelain bowl quality
- AquaPiston - does it work reliably (heard the old version's seal had leaks, newer yellow seal is better?)
- flushing completely?

Thx.
 
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Gary Swart

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Why not look at the Toto line? Better quality and superior performance. Many models to choose from.
 

Gary Swart

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Why not look at the Toto line? Better quality and superior performance. Many models to choose from.
 

WJcandee

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The Ultramax II one-piece is about $100 more than the Santa Rosa, and is a great toilet.

The Drake II two-piece is around the same price as the Santa Rosa.

Just food for thought.
 

K9mlxj

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Silence means not recommended I suppose.

Nothing to recommend for a 1-piece toilet for $300 or less (street price)?
 

Jadnashua

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My experience with Kohler is that they often look good, but don't always work great. Then, because they have long been infected with the NIH (not invented here) syndrome, they like to do things differently than most everyone else - I think, sometimes just to prove they can. THere's often good reason to follow the herd - when something works, and works well, do you want to risk going with Kohler's design of the day? Finding repair parts from them can be an issue, too. I'm all for innovation, but my experience with Kohler has been they like to solve problems that aren't a problem for most people. SOmetimes, you end up being orphaned - nobody stocks the part you need except Kohler, and then you have to order it and hope that they still have some, where for most other brands, you can pick up the part you need almost anywhere and cheaply and be back running again, even on that Saturday afternoon when, inevitably, you finally get around to trying to fix something, then need a part.
 

K9mlxj

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Thx much for the summary of Kohler practices -- really helpful.

Finally I found a 2-piece Toto within the limited budget and also looks good: Toto 1.28gpf Entrada. Keeping my fingers crossed.


Next is to know a bit more on the replacement parts.

One thing want to ask is the Korky fill valve used in the Toto Entrada toilet. Some mentioned leak from the Korky fill valve (internal gasket) before.

Wonder if this problem is still around or Korky has already fixed it?


Also wonder if there's any common replacement flapper for this toilet (I suppose it's a 3" flapper).
 

Reach4

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Finally I found a 2-piece Toto within the limited budget and also looks good: Toto 1.28gpf Entrada. Keeping my fingers crossed.
It looks like that will take a standard elongated seat. I like the Bemis STA-TITE Seat Fastening System to prevent the side-wobble that some seats have. I expect that many other makers have a similar system, but the classic system of just two bolts without some kind of wedging system can loosen a bit.

There is something to be said in favor of the ones that unclip for easy cleaning. I don't know if any combine those two features.

The Toto seats are good, but since you are not dealing with blind holes as skirted toilets have, it is not required.
 

WJcandee

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Oh, yeah, the Entrada. We have heard good things about this toilet; every review I have seen on here of it has been positive. It's a nice-looking toilet with straightforward parts and excellent performance.

Bemis/Mayfair do make a seat with the clip-on hinges for easy cleaning as well as the slow-close feature. We have several, and I like them.

The Toto SS114 is a nice heavy plastic seat that has a great show-close feature.

cst243ef-orange.jpg
 

Jadnashua

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Unless you get a weird toilet (and yes, Kohler makes some), the vast majority of toilet seats coming in two flavors, round or elongated will fit their respective toilets. THe differences between a generic one and the manufacturer's is that the color match may or may not be 'perfect', and some follow the outline of the toilet better than others, but they all will fit.

Some of the skirted toilets may require special care with the mounting hardware, as there's often no access from below, and they use a rubber, expanding plug to hold the seat in place. On some, if you don't use the expanding plugs, you can only access and tighten the nut on the bolts while the toilet is unmounted, as you have to get to it from beneath.
 

Gary Swart

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Regarding your question the the Korky fill valve, Korky seems to be the preferred brand now days. If the leak you are referring to is the cap on top of the valve, not to worry. This does eventually go bad, but it happens gradually and the toilet still works just fine. The replacement is under $4 and is easily replaced, no tools needed.
 
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