Kohler Cimarron toilet review
Written by Mike Johnson in Bathroom, Design, Reviews
A customer in Oconomowoc needed a new toilet so between the two of us we decided on installing a new Kohler Cimarron. Oconomowoc Plumbing installs more Cimarron toilets than any other brand, and for good reason; it’s one of the best flushing toilets on the market for the price. I took some photos of the installation for an online review of the toilet, this review will help you better understand the new Kohler toilet and why it’s so popular.
7 reasons why the Kohler Cimarron is a great toilet
- Bowl cleanliness: The Cimarron is a flagship toilet for Kohler. After years of consumer complaints about low water consumption toilets not working well the engineers at Kohler sat down and designed a toilet that excells in just about every area toilets are judged on. The ability to flush, of course, is the top priority but beyond this the Cimarron has a few other features that make it a winner. Yes, it flushes great but what about the ability for a toilet to clean the side walls of the inside of the bowl? It’s important to design a toilet the “scrubs” the inside of the wall as it flushes and the best way to do that is to engineer a toilet where the flushing action spreads an even coat of water 360 degrees around the bowl. The Cimarron generation 6 from Kohler wins the “best in class” award for this.
- Glazed internal trap: For many years the inside trap on a toilet wasn’t fully glazed. What I mean by this is the nice glazed finish you see on the outside of a toilet remained on the outside while the inside was rough porous china. It only makes sense when flushing debris a smooth surface is best, Kohler knocked it out of the park on this one!
- Larger trap diameter: Just like a sink a toilet has a trap but instead of being exposed and removable a toilet trap is internal. On the Kohler Cimarron the engineers increased the trap diameter from previous models. Obviously this makes flushing objects easier.
- Canister type flush valve: The days of the flush valve flapper are almost over. The Kohler canister flush valve works so well it just doesn’t make sense to build a toilet using the old fashioned rubber flapper. A big part of why this toilet flushes so well is how the canister can release the water faster and at a more controlled rate.
- Larger flush valve: The rubber flapper in a toilet sits over a hole that flushes water into the bowl, in the world of plumbing this is known as a “flush valve” . The actual diameter of the hole is larger on the Cimarron than it is on previous models of toilets. This allows water to be dumped into the bowl fast and quiet, resulting in a better flush with increased velocity
- Silent flush: When we start adding up all the differences between a high capacity toilet and the older toilets you would think the new Kohler would be loud……but it isn’t. The toilet is actually so quiet most consumers when first flushing it take a second look to make sure everything flushed. Instead of the typical toilet sounds we’ve become accustomed to, the new class of toilet sounds similar to taking one big gulp. Consumers love this feature.
- Large bowl base: A common problem in toilet replacement is the size of the base. After a toilet has sat on a floor for many years it can leave an indentation and even a stain on the floor. The Cimarron has a large base that covers most older toilet bases. The photos of the installation below give you a much better idea of what I mean. It also allows for a more stable fixture.
Installing a Kohler Cimarron in Oconomowoc
Removing the old toilet
The process of installing a new toilet always starts with the removal of the old one. During this process the customer let me take photos of the old toilet so I can do a side by side comparison.The toilet I removed was a Briggs brand and it had a stamped date on the inside of the tank of September 1975 – The year the house was built. After more than 35 years the toilet has made a permanent mark on the floor. I cleaned the floor with a very strong cleaning solution and I was able to remove it but the indentation on the floor was permanent. The base of the Kohler Cimarron is larger and covers the the old mark completely. What else is nice about the larger base is stability. In homes that are older the floor is sometimes not in the best shape so a larger base can help keep the toilet stable.
Inside the toilet bowl of a Kohler Cimarron
It’s easy to overlook this but in the photo what you see is an engineering marvel. Take a look at the toilet bowl in your house and just take some time to study it. What you notice is a completely different bowl. As the photo indicates the shape of a modern toilet is not round like an old style toilet. The inside bowl shape is sculpted but it’s not done for good looks, it’s highly engineered to control the flow of water and debris. The reason this is important goes back to the point I made about cleaning the inside of the bowl as it flushes. Basically, water gets flushed from the tank and flows in to the bowl, down from the inside of the toilet rim (the part we clean with the blue toilet cleaner). The difference doesn’t stop with just this. With the old style toilet the water more or less just flows out and ends up down the trap in an uncontrolled fashion. With a modern toilet water not only cleans the sides but the hole you see in the photo takes some of the water and creates a vortex that acts like a jet. With the flow highly contained and managed, it’s next to impossible to clog it.
Glazed internal trap
With the toilet bowl tipped upside down you can see what the exit hole looks like. This is the actual mounting surface of the bowl and this is what gets mounted to the floor. I made a point earlier about the inside of the trap being glazed and this photo shows the inside and how nice it looks. I have no idea how Kohler is able to coat the inside trap but the entire trap is coated smooth for better flow. On the old toilet I pulled out the inside trap was raw porous china, the type of surface texture that really doesn’t make any sense at all. This is a vast improvement in toilet technology. The two holes you see on the sides of the outlet are standard mounting holes for the bowl.
Tank to bowl connection
On a two piece toilet the tank connects to the bowl. The seal is made by a soft rubber/neoprene gasket and it’s bolted together by tank bolts. Some manufactures use 2 bolts for the connection while others use 3 bolts. The Cimarron uses two bolts and actually this is rather new for Kohler because many of the toilets they have made in the past use 3 bolts. What’s most important about the first photo however is the size of the flushing hole. Take a look at the photo below and you will see a much smaller diameter hole.
I put a tape measure up to each photo so you can see the difference between the two toilets. It’s easy to think Kohler could of increased the size of this hole many years ago. In reality though, the tank flushing technology didn’t require it. With the old system of using a rubber flapper water dumped into the tank in a slow and uncontrolled fashion because they used a lot of water. Now, with all the changes to save on water usage, the bowl had to drastically change for the tank to work well.
Bottom side of the toilet tanks
The last photo was the old Briggs brand toilet bowl and in this photo you will see the outside of the tank that gets mounted to it. It can be a little confusing but for the photo of the tank I just set it in the grass and tipped it upside down. Do you see the two holes for mounting the tank to the bowl? Click on the photo and it will enlarge for better viewing. Notice the tank bolt on the left side? What your looking at is stress cracks from the bolts going through the china tank, over the years people lean on the tank and it cracks. In the next photo we will see yet another Kohler innovation of how they solved that problem.
A very common service call for Oconomowoc Plumbing is fixing leaky toilets. One of the reasons why a toilet leaks is the tank-2-bowl seal. The bolts themselves have a rubber gasket that gets squeezed under compression and not only holds the tank down but seals it as well. Over time the rubber breaks down and leaks.
On the new Kohler models the connection is completely different. Click on the photo for an enlarged image and you will see the tank bolts DO NOT go through the tank. Instead, the bolts are held on by a large metal plate that’s fastened to the flush valve outlet. No longer will you need to worry about the bolts holes leaking because the holes in the tank are a thing of the past.
Looking inside of the toilet tank, the heart and soul of a toilet.
So far in this review of the Kohler Cimarron we have discussed in length the engineering of the bowl and the changes that have happened over the years. After that we talked about the connection of the tank to the bowl. In the next segment we look inside the both tanks and see whats changed over the years.
Inside an old toilet tank
What you see below is very common with most of the older style toilets. This toilet use to have a rod and a ball for the float but a few years ago it was replaced with a Fluidmaster 400A. This is what’s known as a ballcock. Anyhow, you can also see the good old trusty rubber flapper, this is what’s known as the flush valve. When you flush a toilet the handle lifts the flapper and lets water drain into the bowl. Meanwhile, the ballcock float drops and opens up an internal valve that lets water fill the tank, pretty simple plumbing. By the way, did you notice the tank bolts? On the next photo they disappear.
Inside the Kohler Cimarron tank
This photo really shows how toilets have changed over the years. The rubber flapper is gone and so are the toilet bolts. Do you remember the hole in the bowl where the tank gets bolted on and how it was much larger on the Kohler? Well, in this photo you can see the size of it in the tank. The ballcock is the same, it’s still the Fluidmaster model. The real technology, when it comes to toilet tanks, is the flush valve. The long fat black tube you see in the photo that replaced the flapper in the old toilet is what we refer to as a canister flush valve.
This photo is a close up of the canister type flush valve. Instead of the toilet handle connecting to a flapper it connects to the canister. When the handle is pressed down it lifts the canister up just like the rubber flapper.
Well, it isn’t really that simple. The canister is pretty unique because it allows water to flow quickly and the initial volume of the water surge is much greater than a flapper. Just this alone is a large improvement but to make it even better the water is flushed through a large opening.
The new footprint covers the old
The last point to cover in the review is the footprint of the new toilet. The photo does a great job of showing how the new Kohler Cimmaron completely covers the damaged footprint of the older toilet.
Once the toilet seat was put on, the toilet was tested and ready to go. The home owners liked the toilet so much I ended up putting in two more for a total of 3. In truth, most of my customers in Oconomowoc end up putting in the new Kohlers, and the Cimarron happens to be the most popular in the Kohler line.
I hope you enjoyed this review. If you have any questions about the new water saving toilets or how you can have one installed feel free to call Oconomowoc Plumbing direct at 920-988-0014.
