How long does Auto Purge run after a bath and can I change it?

Auto Purge runs for 120 seconds, and it starts on its own about 20 minutes after the air pump is switched off. Neither figure can be changed: there is no button for the purge, no timer setting, and no way to shorten it, delay it or turn it off, so the practical answer is to let it finish and plan your bath around it. What the cycle is for is explained in What Is Auto Purge on a Walk-In Tub?; this page covers the timing itself and what you can and cannot do about it.

The Timing, Minute by Minute

1. The countdown begins the moment the air pump is turned off. On push controls that is the fourth press of the air button, after high, medium and low. On the digital touchpad it is the two second hold on the air icon.
2. About 20 minutes later the air blower starts by itself. The tub sounds as if it is running again.
3. The blower runs for 120 seconds, pushing the water that flowed back into the air lines out through the air jets on the floor and seat.
4. It stops on its own. Nothing needs to be pressed.

Two wording notes help when you compare this page with older material. Some printed manuals say the purge fires after the pump is turned on; that is a known wording error, and the correct trigger is the pump being turned off. Some older videos, including the second one on this page, say the purge starts 15 minutes after shutoff; the published figure is 20 minutes. Also, the countdown restarts every time the air is switched off. If you run the air for a moment before a bath to test it, the 20 minute clock starts again from that shutoff, which is why a purge can arrive right in the middle of a soak.

What You Cannot Change

• There is no purge control. The deck buttons or touchpad run the hydro, air, microbubble and light, and none of them starts, stops or retimes the purge.
• Once the cycle begins it cannot be interrupted. Pressing the air button does not cancel it.
• The 20 minute delay and the 120 second run are fixed. They cannot be lengthened, shortened or disabled.
• It runs whether the tub is full, empty or still filling, and it runs while you are still sitting in the tub. Water at bath level does not interfere with it.
• It runs as long as the tub has power.

The cycle is fixed because of what it prevents. After an air bath a little water flows back into the air piping and the jets. If it sat there it could grow mold and mildew, so the system waits for the lines to drain back and then blows them dry. The first video on this page states the trigger plainly: Auto Purge activates 20 minutes after the tub is turned off and clears out the leftover moisture to prevent mold and mildew. The second video shows the full push-button sequence, one gentle press for high, a second for medium, a third for low and a fourth to shut off, and then explains the purge. It adds two habits worth keeping: press the buttons gently, because pushing too hard or too deep can damage the internal mechanism, and a soft push with the palm of the hand works for anyone with arthritis or limited mobility.

What You Can Control: The Order of Your Bath

The only lever you have is when you switch the air off, so use it. Fill the tub first, turn the air massage on once the tub is filled, and turn it off when you are done. The purge then lands about 20 minutes after you finish, usually after you have drained and left. Avoid testing the air before the bath, since that shutoff starts a countdown that will end while you are still soaking. If two people bathe back to back and the second fill begins less than 20 minutes after the first air shutoff, expect the first bath's purge to arrive during the second bath. None of this is harmful. If the purge starts while you are in the tub, stay put, let the two minutes of air pass, and carry on; you can also drain and exit normally while it runs. The mid-bath case is covered in Why Did the Auto Purge Come On While I Was Filling the Tub?.

Only tubs with the three-speed air massage have the cycle, whether the air came alone, as Hydro plus Air, or in a triple package, across the stainless-door, Ultra, outward-swing, two-seat, Transfer and LayDown families. Hydro-only and soaking tubs have no blower and no purge, which includes the Standard, Standard60, Zen, Zen60 and Flow. The microbubble pump is different again: it has no timer at all and runs until you switch it off, as explained in Is There a Time Limit on How Long the Microbubble Pump Runs?. If you ever need to stop every function at once, How Do I Turn the Jets Off in an Emergency? shows the deck controls and the dedicated GFCI breakers, and even after that an air tub will still run its two minute purge about 20 minutes after the air was switched off, as long as it has power.

When the Timing Is Not What It Should Be

• One cycle about 20 minutes after shutoff, lasting about two minutes, is normal. Time it before you worry.
• Starts that repeat every 10 minutes or every hour or two are not the purge. Look for a chrome push button that sits down instead of popping back up. It is air locked: disconnect its red air tube at the control box so the button pops up, then reconnect the tube. If the starts continue, run the control box reset and note whether the air pump is plugged into the top of the blue box or straight into the wall, because a pump plugged into the wall runs whenever it has power. The full sequence is in Why Did My Walk-In Tub Turn On by Itself?.
• Three purges in one hour with no one touching the buttons points to a stuck button or a control box fault, not the timer.
• A blower that runs continuously instead of stopping after 120 seconds is a fault. Switch the tub off at the breaker and open a ticket at ellasbubbles.com/support; a stuck relay or the control box is the usual cause.
• A purge that never seems to happen after an air bath is worth a ticket too, so the team can check the air pump.

For any of the fault cases, 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, or call your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850.

Watch: Walk-In Tub With Air Massage & Auto-Purge Technology for Self-Cleaning | Ella's Bubbles with chapters and a full transcript.

Related Guides

• Why Isn't the Auto Purge Running on My Tub?
• Why Do My Air Jets Not Work Even Though the Auto Purge Still Runs?

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