Does Mounting My Own Faucet on the Tub Deck Void the Ella Warranty?

No. Supplying your own faucet and mounting it on the tub deck does not void the Ella walk-in tub warranty, and the drilling your licensed plumber does to seat that fixture is a normal installation step rather than a modification. What changes is the faucet itself: a non-Ella fixture carries only its own manufacturer's warranty, as Can I Use My Own Faucet Instead of the Ella Fast-Fill Set? explains, and the accessories that depend on the Ella set go with it.

What Stays Covered and What Moves to Your Faucet Maker

The tub keeps its own warranty when you deck mount a faucet you supplied. The shell, frame, door, seal and the Ella equipment on the tub are not affected by your choice of fixture, and you may hire any licensed contractor to do the plumbing. Ella does not require a particular installer for the faucet work.

Three things sit outside Ella's coverage the moment the fixture is not an Ella set:

• The faucet itself. Non-Ella faucets carry only their own manufacturer's warranty, so a dripping cartridge or a worn handle on your fixture is a question for its maker, not for Ella.
• The pull-out hand shower. Every Ella fast-fill set includes an extendable multi-function hand shower with five spray settings on a 5 foot retractable hose, limited to 1.9 GPM by plumbing code and fitted with a backflow prevention check valve. With your own faucet, seated rinsing depends on what your fixture provides.
• The shower column kit and the matched replacement parts. These are designed around the Ella 2-piece and 5-piece sets. The shower column installation video shows why: the column base drops into the vacant pre-drilled hole left by the hand shower receptacle, and its feed line connects to the brass connection on the Ella faucet. A customer-supplied faucet has neither of those connection points.

The Ella thermostatic control valve is a related case. It carries a one-year limited warranty of its own and must be run with an inline filter or mesh to stay covered, but that applies only to the Ella valve. If your fixture has its own anti-scald valve, its maker sets the terms.

Why Deck Drilling Is Not a Modification

The published warranty excludes damage caused by alteration or modification of the tub, and products modified or repaired by anyone other than Ella's Bubbles. That exclusion means cutting or altering the shell, frame or equipment. It does not mean the holes your installer must drill to mount a faucet where the tub is designed to receive one. On a tub ordered without the Ella faucet, drilling the deck for the fixture you supply and connecting it on site is exactly how the job is meant to go, so it is expected work rather than a voider.

The line Ella draws is about responsibility rather than permission. On-site drilling is your installer's responsibility, which means a crack at a hole that was drilled badly, or a leak at a fitting that was never sealed, is an installation result and not a defect in the tub. The same principle applies to the deck grab bar, whose large metal washer must go under the shell because leaving it out can crack the acrylic and voids the warranty, as the grab bar hardware guide notes. Hardware has to seat properly against the acrylic, with a watertight seal at every fastener.

For contrast, Ella will not factory-install a grab bar from another supplier, and that article spells out the consequence: the swapped part carries only its maker's warranty, and damage to the acrylic or a leak at those mounting points is not Ella's to cover. A customer-supplied faucet sits in the same category. The tub is covered. The hole and the fixture are yours.

Plan the Deck Holes Before the Tub Ships

This is the step that decides whether anything gets cut on site. Every seated Ella tub is normally ordered with its fast-fill set, and the deck is drilled to order for whatever faucet is selected. The Ella cut-outs are a 2-1/2 inch diameter hole for the faucet body, a 1/3 inch diameter hole for the mounting rods and a 7/8 inch diagonal hole for the hand shower. A seated tub normally arrives with that pattern already in the deck and no caps supplied.

That leaves two clean paths, and the no-faucet ordering guide walks through both:

1. Choose a deck-mount fixture whose footprint matches the Ella pattern, or plan on cover plates for any hole your fixture does not use.
2. Ask your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 at order time for a tub with no deck holes, so your installer drills only what your fixture needs.

Confirm the drilling detail for your model before the work is done. The two outcomes look very different on installation day. A deck that matches your fixture needs no new holes at all, while a deck drilled for the Ella set and paired with a fixture that does not match needs plates and sealant. Either way, nothing should be cut that does not need to be.

Deck or Wall: The LayDown Tubs Show the Difference

Many people asking this question are weighing the deck against the wall, and the LayDown line is where that choice is built in. The LayDown60 has no faucet option at all and always needs a customer-supplied faucet, usually wall-mounted. The LayDown72 lets you choose No Faucet, 2-piece or 5-piece at order time. On the seated models the Ella set is a deck fixture, and a customer-supplied deck fixture takes its place. The warranty treats every one of these the same way: the tub is Ella's to cover, and a non-Ella faucet is covered by whoever made it. Wall mounting moves the plumbing into the wall your contractor opens, which is their work and never part of the Ella warranty, because installation, plumbing and electrical connections are excluded.

One shipping detail helps your plumber plan either way. When a tub ships with an Ella faucet, the faucet is assembled on the deck but not hooked up to the supply lines, so the tub can travel fully drained, and the installer connects the two included 3/4 inch braided supply lines on site. With your own faucet, the supply lines and their fittings come with your fixture, and your plumber sizes them to the house plumbing.

What Does Void Coverage, so You Can Steer Clear of It

Since a deck-mounted faucet of your own is not on the list, it helps to know what is. From the drilling and warranty guide:

• Relocating the tub or transferring ownership. The warranty covers the first purchaser only, is nontransferable and is tied to the original installation address.
• Modification or repair by anyone other than Ella's Bubbles, meaning cutting or altering the shell, frame or equipment.
• Improper or negligent installation. A tub that is not level is the classic example, because the door and seal warranty depends on correct door alignment.
• Leaning or applying the bather's weight on the door, which holds its own weight only.
• Running the Ella thermostatic control valve without an inline filter or mesh, since cartridge fouling from calcium, iron or contaminated water is not covered.
• Never returning the activation form. Activation puts coverage in force, and the two-page form must be signed by both the customer and the installer and returned with a copy of the sales receipt through the warranty activation page on ellasbubbles.com.

Have your plumber keep the tub level, seal every deck penetration, and leave the shell and frame alone, and the warranty you registered stays exactly as it was. For anything specific to your model, open a ticket at ellasbubbles.com/support with your serial number and a photo of the deck, and the team will confirm the drilling detail before anyone picks up a drill.

Watch: Ella's Bubbles: Shower Column Installation With A 2 Piece Faucet with chapters and a full transcript.

Related Guides

• How fast will my walk-in tub fill? Fast-fill faucet expectations and operation
• Ella Fast-Fill Faucets: 2-Piece vs 5-Piece, Finishes, and the Waterfall Option
• Do I need 3/4 inch supply lines for the Ella fast-fill faucet?

Questions fréquentes