Hi, please help me! We have 3 Kohler "lowboy" one piece style toilets in our house. None works great. They are all almost 20 yrs old. Had a mini flood with one of them on Monday; called the plumber out. Talked to him about how all the toilets need some work to get back into shape. Before I knew it he had talked me into replacing all 3 (saying they were all very old, parts hard to find, unreliability of 1 piece toilets, bla bla bla). Well, my husband hit the roof so I ended up just replacing one for now. This guy put in a 2 piece Kohler, on the small side but works nicely in the space. My question is: shouldn't the toilet itself pretty much last a lifetime, barring the porcelain itself breaking or something like that? Are 20 year old Kohler one piece toilets truly that hard to find parts for, and should they really be replaced at this point? PLEASE HELP!



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A 20 year old Kohler toilet is not exactly 'old and decrepit' and parts are definitely available to rebuild it and make it 'like new' again, (taking for granted that the rim passages are not blocked up with deposits from the water).

Kohler's 84499 conversion kit, is used to rebuild many of their one piece toilets from the 1980's to present.

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We had one that we decided to get rid of because it was baby blue and didn't match the style of the house, and the matching sink's porcelain was chipped and rusting.

In researching before than decision, though, I found few aftermarket parts options and the OEM rebuild kits were fairly expensive. The fill valve and bowl wash tubing is a little more complicated than the typical two-piece toilet; you can't just put in a little hush-flow or something. To solve our problems I would have had to replace the flush valve, the fill valve and the flush handle. That was about half the cost of a new toilet.

So ... out with the old, in with the new. It wasn't on the curb more than about 12 hours and somebody snapped it up.

Regarding parts being hard-to-find: When I hear this I suspect it means that parts may not always be in stock at the supply counter. So, maybe he couldn't fix your old toilet that day, but he might have been able to fix it a couple of days later. It's been my experience that if a manufacturer is making and shipping parts, and you have the correct part number(s), parts are easy to find, and speed depends on how much you want to pay.

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It they are true "low boy" toilets then you should not have been able to have a flood. That was the major selling point for using them, especially in upper level bathrooms. And I would never insult someone's intelligence by saying that replacing them with two piece toilets was an improvement. Parts can be a bit more expensive, but you do not need them very frequently. All you need is a good plumber who knows how to work on them.

First, yes, you can keep a toilet in service indefinitely, barring breakage of the tank or bowl.

Second, Kohler one piece toilets ARE more of a hassle to get parts for (not saying it's impossible), since not every supply house stocks the OEM parts, and Kohler had many different models.

That said, I'm not a big fan of Kohler one piece toilets. Even when the parts are functioning properly, many have a weak flush, especially the older ones. I often tell my customers to consider replacing them with a two piece unit, so I think your plumber made a valid suggestion (you did state that none of your one piece toilets worked well - I betcha the one new 2 piece toilet you let him put in flushes better).

By the way, a rebuild kit for a Kohler one piece toilet was about $90 last time I checked (3 years ago), whereas parts to rebuild most two piece toilets can be bought for less than $20.



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Depending on the model it may be wise to scrap the the Kohler lowboy. Kohler's problem is they tend to build parts for specific toilets rather than use common parts. This leads to a situation where Kohler Distributors are unwilling to stock a full inventory of repair parts. They have to make that decision to stay in business after all, I know there is at least 1 lowboy fill valve that has a retail price of around $275! Trust me only an @#$%& would stock a part for, or, rebuild that toilet! With the lack of parts from supply houses and a 3 week wait for parts from Kohler yes, replacement is sometimes in order. Visit Kohlers website and find the parts for your remaining toilets see how much they cost and how hard it is to find the parts to make your determination.

[www.kohlerserviceparts.kohler.com]

If you do decide to replace them post back we can give you some information on some toilets that are of good quality, have a powerful flush, and use commonly available (inexpensive) parts.

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The only two parts most one piece toilets need is a 1B1X fill valve, properly installed, and a flapper, about $40.00. Many people repair this type of toilet with a conventional Fluidmaster and then wonder why they do not flush properly.

Thanks to everyone for your helpful answers.



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