Which Faucet and Spout Parts Shipped With My Tub, and Is There an Aerator?

There is no single list of faucet and spout parts that ships with every Ella walk-in tub, because the faucet is chosen with the order and the faucet sets have changed over the years, so the model code on your label identifies the tub but not the faucet on it. What holds true across the line is that the spout ships uninstalled among the loose components, that the 2-piece and 5-piece Ella Fast-Fill sets contain different parts, and that the hot and cold valves of the 5-piece faucet have no filter or aerator inside them. Whether a particular spout carries a removable aerator or screen insert cannot be confirmed from the published material, so the support team matches parts from your serial number and a photo, as Replacing Your Walk-In Tub Faucet Set, Valves or Hand Mixer explains.

Why the Model Code Does Not Name the Faucet

Legacy model numbers identify the tub and the drain side. In Ella's numbering, 93217 and 93218 are the Ultimate, 93217 with a left drain and 93218 with a right drain, and 93107 and 93108 are the Elite hydro model with a left-hand and a right-hand door and drain. One code, 932175P, does carry faucet information: it is an Ultimate ordered with the 5-piece fast-fill faucet. That is the exception. Most codes say nothing about the faucet, and because faucets and latches have changed over the years, two tubs with the same code built in different years can carry different faucet sets. Once the model name is known, the current product page, spec sheet and manual for that model are the documents to work from, but the faucet still has to be identified on its own. Reading Your Invoice and Label decodes the codes that come up most often.

Three things let the team match a part to what actually shipped:

• The serial number, printed on the label behind the magnetic access panel next to the door.
• A clear photo of the faucet on the deck showing the handles, the spout and the hand shower if there is one. When hoses are involved, a photo of the connections under the deck helps too.
• The original invoice, which names the faucet model that was ordered and answers the tub and the faucet question at once.

What Each Faucet Set Includes

Current tubs ship with the Ella Fast-Fill faucets, a two-piece version and a five-piece version with a pull-out hand shower. Older tubs carried Huntington Brass faucets, which have since been discontinued at Ella. The table collects what the published material says about each set.

In practice the table means two things. The number of loose parts in your crate depends on the set that was ordered, and a part from one set rarely fits another. A Huntington Brass hose will not fit an Ella two-piece faucet, and the valves on the newest 5-piece faucet are too large to fit a replacement deck plate, so when the 5-piece set replaces a discontinued faucet the team supplies the version sized for your existing plate. The 5-piece set also uses 3/4 inch supply lines where older faucets usually have 1/2 inch lines, so your plumber fits a 3/4 inch to 1/2 inch NPT adapter if the check valves under the tub have 1/2 inch connections.

The Spout, the Empty Deck Hole and the Aerator Question

Ella ships the tub with the spout uninstalled. The open hole in the deck is its mounting point, and the spout travels with the other loose components, so an empty opening on a tub still on its pallet is normal and not a missing part. Unpack everything before reporting anything, because the 2-piece and 5-piece sets include different components and the count of loose parts differs between them. There Is an Open Hole in the Deck of My New Tub walks through that check.

On the aerator, the published answer has two parts. Inside the 5-piece faucet's hot and cold valves there is no filter, no aerator and no pressure or thermostatic control. Each valve is a simple pass-through, so whatever pressure is in the supply line reaches the spout, and a weak hot side is traced upstream to the house supply, a valve an installer may have added, or the water heater rather than to anything inside the faucet. The faucet is rated for a fill of up to 18 gallons per minute at 60 PSI with ideal in-home plumbing. Whether a particular spout carries a removable aerator or screen insert at its tip is not something the published material confirms. If you are asked whether a screen is supposed to be there, the accurate answer is that the team checks the faucet set against the build record from a photo of the spout and the serial number.

Parts That Are Replaced One at a Time

The first question support asks is which part is actually failing, because in many cases only one piece needs to change.

• Water still flowing with a handle in the off position means the valve is not sealing. A photo of the handle off with water visibly coming from the filler, plus the serial number, is what the team reviews before packing a replacement valve. You can swap only the cartridge from the new valve into your existing valve body or replace the valve entirely. 5-Piece Faucet: Water Keeps Flowing With the Valve Off covers that symptom.
• Dripping or a stiff handle usually means a worn cartridge rather than a new faucet.
• No hot water at the tub while the sinks have hot water points to the thermostatic control valve on faucets that have one, not the faucet body. The 5-piece Fast Fill set does not use the thermostatic temperature control piece with the built-in filter that some older faucets had.
• A leaking or kinked hand shower hose is replaced on its own as the hand mixer line.
• Worn valves or a broken handle are replaced without touching the spout or sprayer. You can also keep an existing spout and hand sprayer when moving to the 5-piece set, adapting the spout supply line from 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch NPT.

For the Huntington Brass Roman filler, Ella did not carry alternative handle styles or replacement cartridges, so fluted or vandal-resistant handles, cartridges and stems come from Huntington Brass with the faucet model quoted. Handles, Cartridges and Hoses for the Huntington Brass Faucet on Older Ella Tubs has the details. The video on this page shows the Ella two-piece faucet taken apart for a cartridge swap: the decorative bolt cover and allen bolt come off, the handle lifts away, the escutcheon plate and brass locking collar come off, and the cartridge lifts out, with its two guide posts lining up with the receptacles in the housing on the way back in. The red side goes on the left for hot and the blue on the right for cold.

What to Send Before Reporting a Part Missing or Wrong

1. Open all packaging and lay every loose component out where you can see it. Keep the packaging until you have confirmed nothing is damaged or missing.
2. Match what you find against the faucet set named on your order.
3. Photograph the deck, the faucet and the parts you received.
4. Open a ticket at ellasbubbles.com/support or call (800) 480-6850 with your model, serial number and the photos. The team compares them with the build record and tells you which part, if any, is actually missing.

Watch: Ellas Bubbles: Two Piece Faucet Cartridge Replacement with chapters and a full transcript.

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