Do Walk-In Tubs Come With Hydrotherapy Jets and Massage Features?

Yes. Every Ella walk-in tub is ordered with one of five therapy packages, and four of the five include jets: hydro massage, air massage combined with hydro jets, hydro massage with microbubbles, and hydro massage with an independent foot massage. Only the soaker option has no jets. The full menu of packages and add-on features is in Walk-In Tub Therapy Options and Features; this page explains what each kind of jet actually does, how many jets the common packages carry, and what a jetted tub needs from your bathroom and your routine.

The Five Therapy Packages

Ella walk-in tubs are made from acrylic and use mechanical push-button controls rather than electronic touch panels, so every system is started with a press on the deck. The five ways a tub can be configured are:

• Soaker: no jets, just the seat, the door and the soak.
• Hydro massage: water jets fed by a pump that recirculates your bath water.
• Air plus hydro: the water jets joined by a separate air massage system.
• Hydro plus microbubbles: water jets plus the Infusion microbubble system.
• Hydro plus independent foot massage: water jets in the seat area and a second pump dedicated to the foot and calf jets.

Beyond jetting, a tub can add a heated seat and backrest, ozone sterilization and LED chromotherapy lighting. Not every model offers every package. The Standard and Standard60 ship hydro-only, with no air massage, no microbubble package and no soaker version, and the heated seat and backrest is their only add-on.

Hydro Massage Jets: The Deep, Targeted Massage

Hydro massage jets, also called hydrotherapy jets, water jets or whirlpool jets, deliver the deep massage most people picture when they think of a jetted tub. When you press the Water button, the hydro pump draws bath water in through the inlet cover and pushes it back out through jets aimed at the back, hips, legs and feet. The strength is set by the intensity dial on the deck, which is an air control on a small hose rather than an electrical part; turning it adds or removes air in the water stream to make the massage firmer or softer. Many hydro jets can be aimed, and the foot jet nozzles can be opened, reduced or closed by turning the center. The parts of a jet and the adjustment steps are in What Are Hydro Massage Jets on a Walk-In Tub?.

Two things run automatically with the hydro pump. The ozone generator sterilizes the water as it circulates, and the in-line water heater holds the bath at the temperature you filled it. The heater maintains temperature rather than raising it, so it will not warm a bath filled with cool water, and it does nothing for the air massage, which has no heater. Your home water heater does the heating, which is why a hot fill from a large enough water heater matters more than anything the tub does afterward.

Air Massage: What It Is and How the Three Speeds Work

Air massage is the gentler of the two jet systems. Instead of recirculating water, an air pump feeds air jets set into the tub, and Ella places those jets where few others do: hip jets, foot jets in the footwell floor and even bidet jets. The system is run by a three-speed push button. On Ella three-speed air controls the first press is high speed, the second press is medium, the third press is low, and a fourth press turns the system off. The first video shows the jet placement and the three-speed control in use.

Tubs with air jets also have Auto Purge, a self-cleaning cycle that blows residual water out of the air lines to help prevent mildew and mold. Auto Purge activates automatically 20 minutes after the air pump is turned off and runs for 120 seconds. It is fully automatic and cannot be stopped, and it is normal for it to start while you are still in the tub if you switched the air off before you finished bathing. Because air massage has no heater of its own, most bathers who want a long, warm soak pair it with the hydro package.

Microbubbles and Independent Foot Massage

Microbubble therapy fills the bathwater with millions of tiny bubbles, conditioning the water to a milky, silky texture. It oxygenates and gently exfoliates the skin, which makes it the popular choice for skin-sensitive or skin-conscious bathing. The Standard60 is the only Ella tub offered with the H2 hydrogen and microbubble system, and that system cannot be combined with Infusion microbubbles.

Independent foot massage gives the foot and calf jets their own pump and their own intensity dial. Those jets sit in the footwell, the deep floor section in front of the seat, on a beveled edge angled at the heel and the ball of the foot, with the calf jets a little higher. Because the system is independent, you can fill just the footwell to just below the seat and just above the calf jets, press the foot massage button and enjoy a foot spa without filling the tub. On these tubs the in-line heater is attached to the foot massage pump, so running the foot jets is what keeps the water warm. The second video explains why Ella installs a separate pump and motor for each system, back jets, foot jets, air and microbubble, and wires the tub so that all of them can run at the same time rather than sharing one pump through a small plastic diverter.

How Many Jets: The Figures Printed for Common Packages

Jet counts belong to the therapy package, not the model name, so the same tub can carry a different count depending on the package ordered. The figures below are the ones printed in the current model profiles and spec sheets.

The Standard family is the simplest answer: it ships in one configuration, and 18 hydro jets on an 8.1A 900W pump with an in-line heater and intensity dial is what you get in either the 52 inch or the 60 inch length. The Elite, Capri and Transfer figures show that packages differ in where the jets sit as much as in how many there are, with a split between the seat or upper section and the foot area. If you are comparing two models, ask your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 for the jet count of the specific package you are considering, and plan the electrical work with it: the Standard, for example, needs one dedicated 20A 120V GFCI outlet, and its heated seat and backrest draws 4A.

What the Jets Need from You

A few habits keep any jetted package running well:

• Fill before you press. A single-pump hydro system needs water 1 to 2 inches above the highest jets before the pump starts. Running a pump dry causes permanent damage that is not covered by the warranty.
• Start hot. Fill with comfortably hot water from the faucet, and keep bath water at or below 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Flush monthly. Combine 2 cups of white vinegar with 2 cups of water, fill the tub to one inch above the highest jets, add the mixture, run the tub for 10 minutes and drain. Do the same any time the jets feel weak or debris appears, and clean the pump inlet cover at the same time. Flushing after every bath is not necessary.
• Skip bath bombs, which clog the jets.
• Mind the drains. Step around the drain stoppers in the footwell, because stepping on an open drain can break the drain cable, and never push a stopper closed with your foot.

If a pump will not start or the jets stay weak after a flush, open a ticket at ellasbubbles.com/support with your therapy package name, which jets are affected, the intensity dial position, the water level you used, and your model and serial number.

Watch: Experience True Relaxation with Independent Foot Massage Pumps for Walk-In Tubs | Ella’s Bubbles with chapters and a full transcript.

Related Guides

• What Are Air Massage Jets on a Walk-In Tub?
• What Is Infusion Microbubble Therapy on a Walk-In Tub?
• Independent Foot Massage: A Foot Spa Without Filling the Whole Tub

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