Which waterfall faucet is best for a walk-in bathtub?

For an Ella walk-in tub, the waterfall faucet to consider is the Ella Waterfall Bathtub Faucet, a wall-mounted brass faucet with a 24 inch slider bar and an extendable four-setting hand shower, offered in matte black, chrome and brushed nickel. Ella offers one waterfall faucet, so the buying decision is not one waterfall brand against another but whether a wall-mounted waterfall suits your bathroom better than the deck-mounted 2-piece or 5-piece fast-fill sets that every seated tub is drilled for at order time. The Waterfall Wall-Mount Faucet: Installation Overview, Slider Bar, Finishes and Fill Expectations covers the package and the wall work in detail, and this page compares the choices so you can pick the right one before your tub is drilled.

What You Get with the Ella Waterfall Faucet

The waterfall faucet delivers water in a soothing cascade from a body mounted on the wall rather than through a spout on the tub deck. The main body is cast from A-grade brass with a ceramic cartridge in a brass housing and double-handle hot and cold control. The first video shows the cascade in action, the extendable hand shower with its four spray settings, and the three finishes side by side.

• Slider bar with a brass base, a 304 stainless steel tube, 24 inch slide travel and a brass slide sleeve.
• Two stainless steel hoses, each about 59 inches long.
• Extendable multi-function hand shower with four spray settings, resting in a holder that adjusts up and down and side to side. The attachment is reversible, so the hand shower can sit on whichever side you prefer.
• Shower diverter valve, brass connectors, wall mounts for the slide bar, decorative cover plates, installation hardware and a hex key for assembly.
• Maximum water flow rated at about 10.5 gallons per minute. On the demonstration tub the faucet filled the bath in under 5 minutes.

Finish options are matte black, chrome and brushed nickel. The rest of the tub hardware, including the grab bars, door handle, drain openers, jet trim and controls, stays chrome, so a matte black or brushed nickel waterfall contrasts with the tub rather than matching it.

Waterfall Faucet Versus the Deck-Mounted Fast-Fill Sets

The table lists the faucet options Ella publishes for its walk-in tubs, using only the figures printed in the current articles and documentation. Where a figure is not published, the cell says not listed.

What the figures mean for you: the deck sets carry the higher flow ratings, but the fast-fill article is clear that real fill speed depends on your home's water pressure and pipe size, which is why the two deck sets fill at similar rates in most homes and why the waterfall's under 5 minute demonstration fill is a fair expectation rather than a promise. The waterfall trades some rated flow for the cascade, a wall-mounted slider that comes in the package, and a finish choice that includes matte black. The 2-piece is the one-hand choice, the 5-piece keeps hot and cold on separate levers, and the thermostatic set is for bathers who want the valve to hold a set temperature and are happy with chrome. Both deck sets are compared in Ella Fast-Fill Faucets: 2-Piece vs 5-Piece, Finishes, and the Waterfall Option.

Which Tubs Can Take It, and When to Decide

Ella drills every tub for the faucet selected at order time. The second video shows this directly: when your order is placed, the tub is pulled with your name on it and drilled for whatever faucet and features you selected. A waterfall faucet lives on the wall, so the deck does not need faucet holes, and the decision has to be made before the tub is drilled rather than after delivery. Using Your Own Faucet: No-Faucet Orders, Pre-Drilled Decks, Wall-Mount Options, and Which Tubs Require a Customer-Supplied Faucet explains what happens on a no-faucet order. On some tubs the deck still arrives drilled for the Ella set, so you would need cover plates or a matching deck faucet, while a tub with no deck holes can be requested at order time as a special order.

• Seated models normally ship with a deck-mounted fast-fill set included. If you want the waterfall instead, tell your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 when you order so the drilling matches the faucet.
• The LayDown60 is never sold with a factory faucet and always needs a customer-supplied faucet, usually wall-mounted. Because this tub needs a wall-mounted faucet anyway, ask whether the Ella waterfall faucet can be supplied with it. The model is profiled in What is the Ella LayDown walk-in bathtub and which sizes are available?.
• The LayDown72 is faucet-ready and offers No Faucet, 2-piece or 5-piece at order time.
• The HomeCare transfer tub ships with a 1-piece wall-mount faucet rated up to 18 GPM with hand shower and slider, and its documentation lists the waterfall faucet as an option. See Ella HomeCare 32x60 Transfer Tub: Assisted Bathing With a Pre-Filled Tank.

What the Wall Installation Involves

Because the faucet body, the slider and the diverter all mount to the wall, this is rough-in work for a licensed plumber, finished and tested before the wall surface is closed and tiled. The hot and cold supplies are roughed into the wall at the faucet body's centers, the brass body is set to the wall on its cover plates and connected to the supplies, the slide bar's wall mounts are marked level and anchored, the two stainless hoses connect the diverter and the hand shower, and the hand shower is seated in its holder on the column. Add solid blocking where the body and the slide bar mounts will land, ask for the dimensioned drawing from the specification sheet before the wall is framed, and plan reachable shut-off valves. Ella does not send technicians. Parts ship under the warranty and a local licensed plumber does the labor.

This is the practical difference from a deck faucet. A deck set arrives assembled on the tub deck, not yet hooked to the supply lines so the tub can ship drained, and your installer connects the two supply lines on site. A waterfall faucet means no faucet on the deck at all and a wall that has to be planned around the faucet before it is closed.

What to Expect at Bath Time

The water arrives as a cascade rather than a spout stream, and the hand shower rests on the slider where it can be raised, lowered and angled for a seated or standing rinse. The waterfall hand shower has four spray settings, while the deck sets carry a 5-setting pull-out hand shower on a 5 foot hose parked in a deck holder. Since the slider bar is part of the waterfall package, you do not need to add a separate slide bar kit with this faucet. Fill times in your home will follow your water pressure and pipe size, so treat the under 5 minute demonstration fill as a benchmark from a well-supplied bathroom.

Watch: Luxury Faucet Options for Your Walk-In Tub, Voted Best/Safest 2020 | Ella’s Bubbles with chapters and a full transcript.

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