Kohler vs. Toto - An interesting experiment

This is an interesting non-scientific experiment. I have two newly installed toilets, a Toto Ultramax and a Kohler San Rafael. The Kohler unit is in our main bathroom where we have a cat litter box with flushable litter. It does a good job on standard waste, but typically it takes up to 4 flushes and vigorous usage of a toilet brush to flush down all of the kitty litter placed in the Kohler toilet. I thought it would be interesting to see how the Toto would compare in a similar application. One flush got rid of more then 99% of the litter. Slight “touch-up” with a brush and the next flush removed the few remaining grains. That was very impressive. I am certainly glad I listened to the recommendations on this forum for the Ultramax. Why did I get the Kohler? It was a free replacement for an old pressure assisted unit that broke down, so the price was right.

Glad your experiment worked out. But most folks on this forum I believe would agree with me that kitty litter does not belong in the toilet, no matter how good the flush and no matter that it is supposedly flushable.

Are there some sanitary issues with flushing kitty litter or is it just the concern that the toilet will get plugged? I've been doing it for two years on a previous toilet with no obvious problems.

40 or so years ago the television was full of diaper ads that proclaimed that you could flush them down. I believe one of the brands was
called "Flush-a- byes". Until the people got wise, it was good for a lot of service calls.

I have two cats. I use "store brand" (cheap) non-clumping litter. Solid waste is removed as it happens, and the litter is completely changed twice a week (until I "inherited" my second cat, the litter was good for one week).
I live in a townhouse style condo with two bathrooms on a town sewage system. I also have a camp in the mountains which I use about 6 months of the year. The camp is on a septic system.
At the condo, the litter box is in the second floor bathroom. The solid cat waste is scooped out and flushed down the toilet, along with whatever litter sticks to it. I will not use the clumping litter because even though some brands say it can be flushed, I don't want to take any chances.
At the camp, the solids are not flushed. When my septic tank was installed, I asked the installer about flushing cat waste. He told me not to because the bacteria in the cat waste is not the same as in human waste and might create a problem with the bacterial action in the tank.
Yes, certain toilets have problems with litter granules. I have had several toilets in my second floor bathroom. The one that had the worst problem with cat litter was a 5-gallon Mansfield of early 1970's vintage. It did an otherwise excellent job with anything other than that, and did not clog. I switched to a 1952 Eljer siphon jet, which had a vigorous swirl made possible by a small round jet placed just below the water line on the back left of the bowl. It was an excellent rinser, but unfortunately, solids would sometimes spin around in a circle just above the drain and not get caught by the small rectangular shaped jet just below. It often required a second or third flush to get rid of the "floaters", a gross waste of water.
After the water department raised the water and sewer rates (due to lower sales because of the water saving fixtures and appliances) I bought a Kohler Cimarron. It was a poor rinser and left specks of litter on the sides of the bowl with some granules at the bottom of the bowl from time to time.
The Cimarron was replaced with the Toto Drake. The litter granules on the sides of the bowl rinse away and everything goes down, even "floaters". I occasionally see a fine film of litter dust that doesn't get rinsed completely away (even though the litter claims to be 99% dust free -- yeah, right). But I also saw this film in the Eljer which used 5 gallons of water.
jk60, was that flushable clumping litter that you put down your Ultramax, or was it regular non-clumping granules?

Matt

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Originally Posted by achutch

jk60, was that flushable clumping litter that you put down your Ultramax, or was it regular non-clumping granules?

Matt

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Very informative write-up. Thank you. The litter that I am using is flushable clumping litter that is supposedly "98% dust free". For two years I've used it on an old Norris Thermador and the litter had a tendency to stick to this toilet. It is not as bad on the new Kohler, but the Ultramax is a definite winner in this exercise.

I am a reformed Litter flusher! Wifey and I had 5 cats. (Hygenic nightmare)
Would you flush gravel down your toilet? No. Same thing. It's just asking for problems. The dust must create some residue in pipes I would imagine. It has to destroy the glaze finish to begin with.

Litter deoderizing trick: Mix one third box baking soda to one bag litter (mix well).
It will eliminate a lot of problem odors. It will especially neutralize urine odor and make your litter last one or two days longer as well.

Mike