How do you fill a walk-in tub after you get in?

You fill an Ella walk-in tub from the inside: step into the dry tub, sit fully in the seat, close and lock the door, close the drain completely, set the temperature, then run the faucet until the water is above the highest jets and never above the center of the drain handle. The bath ends the same way in reverse, with the tub drained completely before the door is opened. The full sequence is printed as tick boxes in the Printable First Bath Checklist for a New Walk-In Tub, and this page explains each step, how long the fill takes and what decides that.

The Fill Sequence, Step by Step

1. If your tub has the heated seat and back, press the heater button before you get in so the seat and backrest surfaces have time to warm. The system shuts itself off after a preset time.
2. Step into the empty tub and sit fully in the seat with your back on the backrest. Never enter a tub with water in it. The door only seals once it is closed and locked, so the water has to come after you.
3. Close and lock the door. On an inward-swing door, keep your feet and knees clear of the door's path as it closes.
4. Close the drain completely. Most Ella tubs have two 2-inch gravity drains, and each drain handle should be fully closed before the faucet is opened.
5. Set the water temperature before the water reaches you. The manuals warn that water above 100.4 F may be harmful, so adjust the mix at the faucet first.
6. Fill until the water is above the highest jets, and never above the center of the drain handle.
7. Run the therapies you want, turn them off, then drain completely and only then open the door.

The order matters more than it does in a conventional bathtub. In a walk-in tub the door is part of the bathing well, so the water is added after the door is locked and removed before it is unlocked, every time.

Why the Tub Fills After You Sit Down

Because you are in the tub during the fill, the amount of water you actually need is the occupied figure, not the unoccupied capacity printed for the shell. Most standard-size Ella walk-in tubs hold 65 to 107 gallons unoccupied, and you will typically use 30 to 75 gallons per bath once you are seated, because your body displaces part of the volume. The largest models, such as the ShaK, Escape and Big4Two, hold up to 145 gallons unoccupied. Sitting first also means the water level rises around you, so you can stop the fill exactly where you want it, above the jets but comfortably below the drain handle.

How Long the Fill Takes

The Ella faucet is capable of a fill rate of about 16 gallons per minute, and at that rate a tub with a capacity of around 60 gallons fills quickly rather than leaving you waiting, as Drainage and Fill Time explains. The faucet is only half of the picture, though. Your home's plumbing sets the real-world rate.

• House water pressure, pipe size, the distance from the water heater to the tub and hot water being drawn elsewhere at the same time all change how fast the tub fills. Three quarter inch supply lines with accessible shut-off valves are recommended, and both Ella fast-fill faucet sets include two 5 foot braided supply lines.
• Hot water has to last for the whole fill. The general guidance from the team is that the average walk-in tub usually calls for a 75 gallon or larger water heater, with the maximum capacity heater available for your house as the recommendation. The largest tubs may require a dedicated additional heater, and a tankless heater should be rated at 11 GPM or more.
• Have your contractor assess pressure, pipe runs and heater capacity before installation day rather than after the first cold bath.

The figures behind those points, model by model, are in How long does it take to fill a walk-in tub?.

Water Level, Temperature and the Jets

The level is not just a comfort choice. Every air jet must be under water before you start the blower, which on most tubs means a full fill above the highest jets, and the same rule keeps the hydro jets covered. What Are Air Massage Jets on a Walk-In Tub? shows where those jets sit in the seat, the base of the seat and the footwell floor. The upper limit is the center of the drain handle, so the overflow does the job it is designed for. Set the temperature before the water reaches you, and remember the warning in the manuals that water above 100.4 F may be harmful.

If the wait for the water to rise is the moment you feel cold, the heated seat and back is the option designed for exactly that gap. It warms the seat and backrest surfaces while the tub fills, and it is ordered as an upgrade on the sit-down tubs, as described in Heated Seat and Back: How It Works, Which Tubs Offer It, and How to Add It to Your Order. It is separate from the in-line heater, which is part of a hydro massage package and maintains the water temperature as it circulates through the jets.

Draining Before You Open the Door

When the bath is over, turn the therapies off, open the drain and wait for the tub to empty completely before you unlock the door. Ella tubs drain by gravity through 2-inch openings rather than with a pump, and when the tub is connected to a proper 2-inch drain line it typically empties in two minutes or less. About 20 minutes after you turn the air pump off, Auto Purge starts on its own and runs for 120 seconds to blow residual water out of the air lines. It cannot be stopped, and it is normal even if it starts while you are still in the tub.

Models That Fill Differently

Two exceptions are worth knowing. The HomeCare Transfer Bathtub, built for caregiver-supervised bathing only, has an 80 gallon internal tank that pre-heats water while the bather is being prepared, so the tub fills in about 90 seconds after the bather is seated, drains in about 150 seconds and refills the tank in about 11 minutes for the next bath. At the other end of the line, the LayDown60 is never sold with a factory faucet, so its fill rate depends on the customer-supplied faucet your plumber installs. For every other model the sequence above applies, and for questions about your own tub, open a ticket at ellasbubbles.com/support or call (800) 480-6850 with your model and serial number.

Common Questions