How Long Does Auto Purge Run After a Bath, and Can I Change It?

On every Ella walk-in tub with the three-speed air massage, Auto Purge starts about 20 minutes after the air pump is switched off, runs for 120 seconds, and stops on its own. It is fully automatic: there is no button for it, no setting to shorten or delay it, and no way to stop a cycle once it has started. What Is Auto Purge on a Walk-In Tub? explains why the cycle exists. This page covers the timing itself, what you can and cannot do about it, and how to tell a normal purge from a fault.

The Timer, Step by Step

The whole cycle hangs on one event, the air pump being turned off. Nothing else starts the countdown. Draining the tub, opening the door, and running the hydro or microbubble pumps have no effect on it.

1. You press the air button until the system shuts off. On the three-speed push control the first press is high speed, the second is medium, the third is low, and the fourth press turns the air off. A gentle push is enough, and the video shows that a push with the palm of the hand works for anyone with arthritis or a limited grip.
2. The control box waits about 20 minutes. During that wait a little water drains back from the floor and seat jets into the air piping, and that water is what the purge is there to remove.
3. The air pump starts by itself and runs for 120 seconds, blowing that water back out through the air jets. The tub sounds like it is running again, and in the water it feels like a burst of air through the jets.
4. The pump stops on its own. There is one cycle per shutoff, and it does not repeat until the air massage has been used and switched off again.

Some printed manuals say the purge fires after the pump is turned on. That is a known wording error. The trigger is the pump being turned off. The video below shows the air jets at work and states the 20 minute delay.

What You Can and Cannot Change

The plain answer to the second half of the question is no, with one practical exception that most owners find is all they need.

• You cannot shorten the 120 seconds or lengthen the 20 minute delay. There is no setting for either figure on the push controls or the digital touchpad, and the control box has no dial for it.
• You cannot cancel a purge that has started. Pressing the air button during the cycle does not stop it. There is no need to get out of the tub, and water at bath level does not interfere with the cycle.
• You cannot switch the purge off permanently while keeping the air massage. The two are part of the same system, and the purge is what keeps the air lines from growing mold and mildew.
• You can decide when it happens, because you decide when the air pump is switched off. That is the one lever you have.
• Switching off the tub's dedicated GFCI breakers removes the purge along with everything else, because the cycle runs only as long as the tub has power. That is an emergency measure rather than a way to manage the timer, since the water in the air lines then stays where it is.

Planning a Bath Around the Purge

Because the countdown starts at shutoff, a purge that interrupts a bath is almost always a timing problem you can fix yourself without a part or a ticket.

• Turn the air massage on only after the tub is filled, and turn it off when you are finished with it. The purge then arrives about 20 minutes later, usually after you have drained and stepped out.
• Do not test the air for a few seconds before the bath. Switching it on and off, even briefly, restarts the 20 minute countdown and can put the purge in the middle of the soak. Why Did the Auto Purge Come On While I Was Filling the Tub? covers that pattern.
• If two people bathe back to back and the second fill begins less than 20 minutes after the first bather shut the air off, the first bather's purge lands during the second bath. Leave a gap between baths, or simply let the two minute burst run.
• If a purge starts while you are bathing, stay where you are. It stops after 120 seconds. If you would rather leave, drain and exit normally. The cycle keeps running after the tub is empty, and it is one of the normal sounds a tub makes after draining.

When the Timing Looks Wrong

Knowing the normal numbers makes the abnormal ones easy to spot. One run of about two minutes, roughly 20 minutes after the air was shut off, is the purge. Anything else is worth a closer look.

• Air that starts every 10 minutes, every hour or two, or three times in one hour points to a chrome push button stuck in the down position, which keeps sending its air signal to the control box. A button that sits down instead of popping back up is air locked. Disconnect its red air tube at the control box so the button pops up, then reconnect the tube. Why Did My Walk-In Tub Turn On by Itself? walks through this and the control box reset.
• An air pump plugged straight into the wall instead of into the top of the control box runs whenever it has power, which looks like a purge that never ends. Check where the pump cord is plugged in.
• A blower that runs continuously instead of stopping after 120 seconds usually means a stuck relay or a control box fault. Switch the tub off at the breaker and open a ticket.
• A purge that never seems to come after an air bath is also worth a ticket, so the team can check the air pump.

For any of these, open a ticket at ellasbubbles.com/support or call your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850. Include your serial number, a short video of the tub starting with the time between starts, and a photo of the blue control box showing where the pumps and air tubes are plugged in.

Which Tubs Have It, and Which Do Not

Any Ella tub ordered with the three-speed air massage has Auto Purge, whether the air came alone, as Hydro plus Air, or in a triple package. Hydro-only and soaking tubs have no air blower and no purge cycle, and that includes the Standard, Standard60, Zen, Zen60 and Flow. Hydro jets drain themselves as the tub drains and never cycle on their own.

The purge is also the only automatic timer on the tub. The microbubble pump has no time limit and no automatic shutoff, and it runs until you press its control, as Is There a Time Limit on How Long the Microbubble Pump Runs? explains. The in-line heater has no switch of its own and stops the moment the hydro pump stops. If you ever need everything off at once, How Do I Turn the Jets Off in an Emergency? covers the deck controls and the breaker.

Auto Purge clears the air lines, and ozone sanitizes the hydro lines on tubs that have it, but neither replaces the monthly vinegar flush: 2 cups of white vinegar and 2 cups of water, the tub filled to 1 inch above the highest jets, the jets run for 10 minutes, then drained.

Watch: Walk-In Tubs Featuring Three Speed Air Massage & Auto-Purge Technology | Ella’s Bubbles with chapters and a full transcript.

Related Guides

• Why Isn't the Auto Purge Running on My Tub?
• Why Didn't Auto Purge Run, and Does the GFCI Breaker Stop It?

Related Videos

Questions fréquentes