What is the Ella Royal 32 by 52 soaking walk-in tub?

The Ella Royal is a 32 by 52 inch walk-in tub in Ella's inward swing stainless steel door family, and its current spec sheet gives an actual size of 31.5 inches wide by 52 inches long by 35 inches tall with a 23 inch seat, the widest seat in that family. Ordered with the Soaking package it has no jets and no pump, so what you get is the acrylic shell, the brushed stainless steel door with frosted tempered glass, the 5-piece faucet with pull-out hand shower and the dual drains. Comparing Ella's Bubbles Walk-In Tub Models places the Royal beside the Elite and the rest of the lineup; this page profiles the Royal itself.

The Royal by the Numbers

These figures come from the Royal specification sheet dated 6/7/23. The nominal size in the name is 32 by 52 inches; the actual size is the figure to measure your alcove against.

• Actual size: 31.5 inches wide by 52 inches long by 35 inches tall.
• Shipping size: 36 by 57 by 46 inches, so the crate is what has to pass through your doorways and hall, not the tub alone.
• Net weight 230 pounds; shipping weight 320 pounds.
• Seat width: 23 inches.
• Water capacity: 100 gallons unoccupied, 45 to 65 gallons when occupied, the occupied figure varying with the bather.
• Door: inward swinging brushed stainless steel with frosted tempered glass.
• Included: gloss white acrylic shell reinforced with fiberglass gelcoat, a stainless steel frame with adjustable leveling legs, a removable front apron with two access panels, one reversible end panel and one 7 inch extension panel, a stainless steel chrome deck grab bar and a wall-mounted grab bar, and a removable swivel tray in white matte finish.
• Electrical: the spec sheet calls for dedicated GFCI-protected electrical lines at 110/120V for the therapy systems it lists.
• Options: Heated Seat and Backrest, and a Digital Controller.

The half inch between the 32 inch name and the 31.5 inch shell follows the same pattern as the Petite, whose actual width is 27.5 inches, so compare the actual size with the opening in your bathroom. The 7 inch extension panel is how a 52 inch tub fills the leftover gap in a longer alcove.

How the Royal Compares with the Other 52 Inch Ella Tubs

Several Ella tubs share the 52 inch length, so the Royal is chosen on width, seat width, height and door style rather than on length. Figures are the actual sizes from the current spec sheets and published comparisons; where a figure is not published, the cell says not listed.

Read the table two ways. On width, the Royal and the Transfer32 are the two 52 inch tubs around 32 inches wide, and the choice between them is entry: a stainless steel door you step through and close behind you, or an L-shaped transfer door with no sidewall beside the seat for sliding across from a chair. On height, the Royal shares the 35 inch platform with the Elite and the Petite, and that lower seat is the one many shorter bathers find easiest to settle into. The Royal's 23 inch seat is wider than the Elite's 22 inches and the Petite's 19 inches, so it is the stainless steel door tub to look at when hip room is the deciding measurement. The smallest walk-in tub for a petite bather covers the other end of the same platform.

What the Soaking Package Includes and Leaves Out

The Royal spec sheet lists six ways to order the tub: Hydro plus Air plus Microbubble therapy, Air plus Hydro, Hydro plus Hydro Independent Foot Massage, Hydro Massage plus Microbubble, Hydro Massage alone, and Soaking. Soaking is the sixth, and it is the one the 32 by 52 soaking search refers to. Choosing it leaves out everything the other five packages add:

• The hydro massage pump rated 5 to 7A, its intensity dial, the 16 hydro jets (10 at the seat and 6 at the feet) and the 6A 650W in-line water heater.
• The 4.5A 500W three speed air pump with its 15 air jets (7 seat jets and 8 foot jets) and the auto-purge that activates 20 minutes after the pump shuts down.
• The 1 HP 7.3A microbubble pump with its pressure vessel and agitator valve.
• The 0.04A ozone sterilization and the 0.5A LED chromatherapy light that come with the jetted packages.

What stays is the shell, the door, the frame and leveling legs, the panels, the grab bars, the swivel tray, the faucet and the dual drains, all with the same 100 gallon unoccupied capacity. The two listed options, the Heated Seat and Backrest and the Digital Controller, remain on the spec sheet, so a Royal soaker can still have a warm seat. Because the dedicated GFCI lines on the spec sheet serve the therapy systems, ask your electrician and the team at (800) 480-6850 what your exact configuration needs before the wall is closed. A soaker keeps the same footprint as the jetted version of the same model, and the 60 inch tubs without jets shows that pattern on the longer footprint.

Faucet, Fill and Drain on the Royal

The Royal ships with the Ella 5-piece faucet. Its spout fills at up to 18 GPM at 60 PSI with ideal in-home plumbing, fed by two 5 foot 3/4 inch water supply lines through a 40mm high-flow cartridge. The pull-out chrome hand shower rides on a 5 foot retractable stainless braided hose, is limited to 1.9 GPM and carries a back-flow prevention valve to protect your home's water supply. Installation is the standard four step Ella Fast-Fill sequence: the lever with its gasket, washer and two nuts, the spout with its washer nut under the deck, the hand mixer with its plastic nut, then the hot and cold supply connections.

Draining uses Ella's dual drain: two 2 inch independent floor drains with 4-port PVC T-type bodies and two end caps, two overflows, and two stainless steel operated openers with extended chrome handles. The T-type bodies connect in either direction. In the Royal customer video on this page, the owner describes the tub filling quickly with good water pressure, draining quickly when done, and feeling safe sitting or standing while showering. That video shows a jetted Royal with microbubbles, so the bubbles described are not part of the Soaking package, but the fill, drain and door experience is the same shell.

Who the Royal Soaker Suits

Fit decides the Royal. Sit in a chair facing a wall and measure across your hips, across your shoulders and from the top of your head to your feet while seated; the tub seat must be wider than your seated hip measurement. The 23 inch seat gives the Royal the most hip room in the stainless steel door family, and the 35 inch height puts the seat lower than on the 40 inch tubs such as the Capri. The soaking depth video on this page explains that how deep you sit comes from the interior length of the tub, the length of the seat and the depth from the top of the seat to the center of the overflow, and that your own size sets the result. If you transfer from a wheelchair, the Transfer32 at the same 52 inch length is also offered as a soaking tub with no jets. The Royal carries Ella's lifetime limited warranty on the shell, frame, door and parts for the original purchaser at the original address, with labor and installation excluded. Confirm the configuration with your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850.

Watch: How to Measure the Soaking Depth of Your Walk-In Tub | Ella’s Bubbles with chapters and a full transcript.

Related Guides

• What is the Ella Elite 30x52 inward swing door walk-in tub?
• Monaco vs. Capri: What Actually Differs Between Ella's Two Outward-Swing 52-Inch Tubs
• Your Stainless Steel Inward-Swing Door Owner's Manual, Section by Section, With the Corrections to Know (Elite, Petite, Royal, Deluxe, Ultimate)

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