How do I clear hair and debris from the dual drain ports?

Clearing hair and debris from the drains on an Ella walk-in tub is a job done by hand at the two drain covers inside the tub: pick out any hair you can see on each cover, wipe the covers and the rims around them, and make sure both drain handles are turned fully open before you judge how fast the tub empties. The four-port T-type drain bodies under the tub are part of the house plumbing connection and are not something an owner cleans, so if the tub is still slow once the covers are clear, a plumber checks that the house drain flows freely. What Is Dual Drain Technology on a Walk-In Tub? explains how the two 2 inch gravity drains are laid out.

Where Hair Collects, and Where It Does Not

Most Ella walk-in tubs use two independent 2 inch floor drains, each with its own easy-turn handle on the deck, and each handle works its drain cover through a stainless steel cable. There is no hair catcher built into the drain, so whatever hair goes down with the water either passes through or settles on the cover and the rim of the opening. That is the only part of the drain system you can reach from inside the tub. Below the floor, each drain ends in a T-type PVC body with 2 inch ports, and your installer connected the house drain to the left, to the right or to all four ports and capped the rest with the included end caps. Those ports are plumbing, not a filter, and nothing collects there that an owner is meant to clear.

Hair also collects in a second place that has nothing to do with draining: the pump inlet cover, the suction grate where the hydro pump draws water in. Hair on that cover weakens the jets, not the drain, and it is cleared and wiped once a month. What Is the Pump Inlet Cover on a Walk-In Tub? shows what it looks like. If the symptom is a slow drain, the inlet cover is not your problem, and if the symptom is weak jets, the drain covers are not either; Why Are My Walk-In Tub Jets So Weak? covers that side.

Clearing the Drain Covers, Step by Step

1. Let the tub empty fully and turn both drain handles to the open position so each cover lifts.
2. Pick any hair and debris off each cover and out of the rim of the opening. A soft cloth is enough, with a non-abrasive cleaner such as Dawn dish detergent if there is soap film, the same cleaner used on the shell.
3. Do not stand on the drain covers, and never step on an open cover. The cover is worked by a stainless steel cable from the deck handle, and stepping on a raised cover can break that cable.
4. Turn each handle through its full travel, closed to open and back, to confirm the cover moves freely.
5. Fill the tub and open both drain handles completely. Both handles fully open gives the full drain speed, both fully closed holds water, and a handle left part way slows the tub even when the covers are spotless.

Keeping Hair Out in the First Place

Because no hair catcher is built into the drain, the team's suggestion is a silicone pop-up drain protector from a hardware store. It is not an Ella part; it sits over the drain opening and traps hair where you can lift it out. The rest of the monthly routine helps too: clear and wipe the pump inlet cover, and run the vinegar flush, which is to combine 2 cups of white vinegar with 2 cups of water, fill the tub to 1 inch above the highest jets, add the mixture, run the tub for 10 minutes, then drain. The flush cleans the jet lines, not the drains, but a tub whose lines are clean sends less residue down the drain with each bath. How do I clean a walk-in tub and its jets properly? sets out the whole routine, and if the first flush after a long gap releases black flakes or slime, that debris comes from the lines and the flush is repeated until the drained water runs clear.

When the Covers Are Clear and the Tub Is Still Slow

The dual drain system is purely gravity driven. There is no pump to clog and no power to lose, so once the covers are clean, drain speed depends on three things: how many of the T-type ports your installer connected, how the house drain was run, and whether the house line itself is restricted. The video on this page shows a live demonstration of water leaving the four-port T-type drains, with a house connection on the left side of the tub and one on the right, and explains that the easy-turn handles double as air vents that clear air pockets and speed the water out. A Y fitting beats a T because fewer sharp turns move water faster, and a 2 inch house drain is recommended where possible; the average drain time for a typical Ella tub is approximately 80 seconds under ideal conditions, and your own time depends on your model's capacity and your plumbing. Two 2 inch drains cannot make up for a restricted house line, so a tub that drains slowly with clean covers and both handles open is a job for a plumber to check the house drain and trap.

When to Open a Ticket

Anything beyond the covers is a support question. If a cover will not lift when its handle is turned, a handle turns with no effect, or the tub loses water during a soak with both handles closed, the drain plug, stem or cable is involved, and those are matched parts. Open a ticket at ellasbubbles.com/support, or call your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850, with your model and serial number, a photo of the drain cover and handle, and a note on whether the tub drains slowly or not at all. Not every Ella tub has two drains. The Standard, Standard60, Zen, Zen60 and Flow use a single 2 inch gravity drain with an emergency pull-up chain, the Front Entry has a single 2 inch 2-port drain, and the LayDown tubs use a single brass drain, so if your tub has no deck drain handles, the cover-and-cable advice above does not apply, and hair is cleared from the single drain opening instead.

Watch: Fastest Dual Drain Technology for Walk-In Tubs | Ella’s Bubbles with chapters and a full transcript.

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