Which Ella walk-in tubs have leg jets and can add a shower setup?

Ella walk-in tubs with hydro jets aimed at the lower legs include the Capri, with 15 hydro jets split 9 in the upper section and 6 in the lower section, the Standard60 with 18 hydro jets covering the feet, legs and back, the Flow with foot and calf jets placed for lower leg hydro massage, the outward-swing hydro tubs with 2 calf and leg jets alongside hip, thigh, foot and back jets, and any model ordered with Hydro plus Independent Foot Massage, which puts the foot and calf jets on their own pump. On the shower side, any tub with an Ella 2-piece or 5-piece deck-mounted fast-fill faucet can take the Ella Shower Column Kit, and a glass screen keeps the spray in the tub. How do hydro, air and microbubble therapies differ and how do they work? explains the therapies themselves; this page matches them to models and to the shower hardware that fits them.

How Hydro Jets Reach the Legs

Jets aimed at the legs are hydro jets. The hydro system uses one water pump, the in-line water heater and the ozone sterilization generator to push bath water through jets aimed at the back, hips, legs and feet, and a single intensity control dial on the deck turns the stream up or down. Air massage works differently: a three-speed blower pushes warm air through many small jets in the seat and floor for a gentle, rolling motion rather than a directed stream, so an air tub bubbles under the legs but does not target them. Infusion microbubble is not a jet massage at all; its dedicated pump, pressure vessel and agitator valve feed one port that turns the water cloudy for a skin-softening soak.

Hydro plus Independent Foot Massage is the package built around the lower legs. It uses two water pumps, one for the upper seat jets and one for the foot and calf jets, with the in-line heater on the foot loop and ozone included, and it gives you two push buttons and two intensity dials. That is what lets the foot and calf jets run on their own without the seat jets, which no single-pump hydro tub can do. The five packages are summarized in Walk-In Tub Therapy Options and Features.

Which Models Put Jets on the Lower Legs

What the differences mean: if you want jets on your calves and the ability to run them alone, the independent foot massage package is the deciding factor, not the model name. If you want the most complete coverage in one hydro package, the outward-swing hydro tubs list jets from the back to the calves to the feet. The Capri is the one model where the published material spells out both the lower jets and a wall-mounted or overhead shower upgrade. For any model you are considering, ask your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 to confirm its jet layout and the shower options for it, because jet counts follow the therapy package you order rather than the shell alone.

Adding a Shower Setup

Ella tubs generally arrive with a 5-piece faucet that includes a handheld shower fitted with a backflow prevention valve to protect the home's water supply, and the Flow ships with the 2-piece fast-fill faucet and its extendable hand shower. Either faucet accepts the Ella Shower Column Kit. The column adjusts up to 7 feet, carries a 10 inch rain head that you can aim at the seat or at the footwell, and adds a movable 5 mode hand shower. Its diverter selects the rain head or the hand shower, one at a time, so the overhead shower can be shut off while you use the hand shower. The shower column video on this page shows how the column base is set watertight: a thin bead of silicone where the attachment ring meets the thread, the rubber gasket pressed over it, a second bead smoothed around the gasket, then the base through the pre-drilled hole with the metal washer and locking piece tightened snugly but not over-torqued. On the Capri, the published upgrade path is a wall-mounted or overhead shower in place of the deck hand shower. If you lift a hand shower to a wall bracket, note that doing so without the leak elimination kit sends water behind the tub.

Keeping the Water in the Tub

A walk-in tub is open on top, so a shower aimed toward the room, or jets running above the waterline, sends spray onto the floor. Ella's published splash guards are the 4 fold glass screen for seated tubs and the LayDown screen for the LayDown tubs, and both keep water in only when the bottom gasket brushes the tub deck lightly and evenly with the gasket angled inward. The 4 fold needs a side wall next to the deck, so the tub must sit in a corner or alcove, and it mounts on the wall side rather than on an extension panel. A 52 inch tub installed with an extension panel in a 60 inch alcove uses the 32 inch 3 fold configuration instead. Keep the hand shower below deck height and aimed toward the tub wall when no screen is fitted. Why Does Water Spray Out of the Tub When I Use the Hand Shower? covers screen height, gasket direction and the silicone bead that finishes the seal.

What It Means for Your Bathroom and Your Order

Leg jets only work with water over them. Fill until the water is above every jet before switching on any therapy, because jets above the waterline spray out of the tub and a pump run without water above the jets is damaged. The independent foot massage package is the exception that lets you fill only to the level of the foot jets and run that pump alone. Fill and drain times are short enough that this is practical: the faucet fills at about 16 gallons per minute, and the two 2 inch gravity drains empty most tubs in two minutes or less on a proper 2 inch drain line, as described in Drainage and Fill Time. If a shower is part of the plan, confirm before ordering that the tub will sit against a side wall for the screen, that the faucet is a 2-piece or 5-piece fast-fill so the column fits, and that the wall behind the faucet deck can take the column height you want. Then ask your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 to confirm the jet layout and shower options for the exact model and package on your order.

Watch: Shower Column with Water-Tight Seal for Walk-In Tubs | Ella’s Bubbles with chapters and a full transcript.

Related Guides

• Hydro Massage vs Air Massage vs Microbubble: What Each System Does and How They Combine
• How fast will my walk-in tub fill? Fast-fill faucet expectations and operation

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