Ella Front Entry vs Mobile: which compact tub fits a tiny bathroom?

Choose the Ella Mobile when the tight dimension is the width of the room or the doorway, and choose the Ella Front Entry when the tight dimension is the length of the space and you can walk up to the tub from its end. The Mobile is the smallest tub Ella makes at 26 inches wide by 45 inches long, while the Front Entry is the shortest at 40 inches long but needs 32 inches of width. Both are described in full in Ella Mobile 26x45: The Smallest Walk-In Tub and Ella Front Entry 32x40: The Compact End-Door Tub, and this page sets them side by side for a bathroom where every inch counts.

The Two Compact Tubs Side by Side

The figures below are the actual sizes from the current spec sheets and model profiles, not the nominal names. The Mobile's water capacity and weight are printed as images on its spec sheet, so those cells say not listed; use the product page or ask your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 for them. The wider compact lineup, including the Flow, the Transfer26 and the Petite, is compared in What is the smallest bathtub size you can buy for a bathroom?.

What the differences mean: the Front Entry wins on length and the Mobile wins on width. A space that is only 40 inches long and approached from the end is Front Entry territory, and the payoff is a 25 inch seat that suits a larger bather. A room or a doorway that cannot give up more than 26 inches of width is Mobile territory, and the payoff there is the fuller therapy menu with the foot massage package and the chromatherapy light. Neither tub includes an extension panel, so neither is the natural choice for filling a standard 60 inch alcove.

Length or Width: Which One Is Your Constraint?

Start by deciding which dimension of your bathroom is the real problem. The Front Entry's door sits on its 32 inch end and swings outward from the front, so the tub can slide into a space only 40 inches long with the door facing the room. That is also why it is the one Ella model that is not ordered as left-hand or right-hand. Two removable side panels are included, which lets it sit in a corner or against a single wall with both sides finished. There is no back panel and no extension panel.

The Mobile is entered from the side like a conventional walk-in tub, so it needs 45 inches of length along the wall plus clear floor in front for its outward door, which opens 165 degrees through a 19 1/4 inch opening. Its 26 inch shell is the narrowest in the line, and the video quotes it at 25 3/4 inches. For a 25 inch doorway the team names the Mobile as the only option, and only with the door frame removed so the shell can pass. The Front Entry ships in a crate measuring 35 by 43 by 43 inches, so measure the route into the bathroom as carefully as the bathroom itself.

What Each Tub Gives Up

Every compact frame trades something away, and these two models trade different things.

• The Front Entry offers Air + Hydro, Hydro + Microbubble, Hydro and Soaking packages. There is no Hydro + Foot option, and the LED chromatherapy light is not included with any Front Entry package.
• The Mobile follows the outward-door family menu of Air + Hydro, Hydro + Foot, Hydro + Micro, Hydro and Soaking, and the LED chromatherapy light comes with the dual package. Because the equipment sits under the seat, the compact frame carries at most two systems.
• Jet counts differ. The Front Entry's hydro system has 13 jets (11 seat, 2 calf) on a 7 amp pump with a 6 amp, 650 watt in-line heater, and its air system has 16 jets (10 seat, 6 foot) on a 4.5 amp, 500 watt three-speed pump. The Mobile carries 15 hydro jets with an in-line heater and 14 air jets on a three-speed pump.
• Both use one oversized 2 inch drain with an emergency pull chain rather than dual drains. On the Front Entry it is a single 2-port PVC body with one end cap included, two overflows and two chrome cable openers.
• Seat size favors the Front Entry: 25 inches on the spec sheet or 24 inches in the video, and 13.5 inches long, against the Mobile's 19 to 20 inch seat with 13 inches of seat length.

Both tubs have an intensity dial and ozone sterilization on the hydro side and Auto Purge on the air side, which starts about 20 minutes after the air pump is turned off and runs for 120 seconds to clear the air lines. An optional heated seat and backrest and a digital controller are available on both, and the Front Entry also lists optional seat cushions.

Faucet, Electrical and Step-In

Both models come with the Ella 2-piece fast-fill faucet in chrome or brushed nickel, with a pull-out hand shower and two 3/4 inch by 5 foot supply lines, filling at up to 16 gallons per minute under ideal plumbing conditions. The Front Entry requires dedicated GFCI protected 110/120 volt, 60 hertz lines: one for Hydro or Air + Hydro, and two for Hydro + Microbubble or the heated seat. The Mobile's electrical requirements are printed as an image on its spec sheet, so confirm them for your chosen package with your Ella dealer or the team before your electrician runs wire.

Both have a low threshold, a textured floor and an outward U-shaped door of composite and tempered glass secured by the three latch gear and shaft mechanism. The Mobile's step-in is published at about 3 3/4 inches. The Front Entry's threshold is described as a low, easy entry, but no figure is published for it. Which Ella Walk-In Tubs Offer the Lowest Step-In for Seniors? explains how the threshold is measured and how the installer can set a tub lower by recessing the drain.

Floors, Mobile Homes and What to Confirm First

Ella's team recommends both of these tubs for single-wide mobile homes because both fit a short space and pass narrow doorways. The floor still has to carry the tub, the water and the bather at once. Water weighs about 8.34 pounds per gallon, and the Front Entry weighs 200 pounds empty and holds 70 gallons unoccupied, so its load can be worked out from published figures. The Mobile's capacity and weight are not published in the spec sheet text, so ask for them before your contractor checks the joists. Are walk-in tubs a good option for mobile homes? walks through the floor, entry route and utility checks for manufactured housing.

The first video on this page shows the Front Entry's oversized seat, its removable side panels and the end door in use, and the second explains how interior length, seat length and the depth from the seat to the overflow decide soaking depth in a compact tub. Before you order either model, send a sketch of the space with measurements in inches, the doorway widths along the route and the package you want to your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850, and they will confirm which tub fits.

Related Guides

• Will it fit through my doorway? How to measure your home for a walk-in tub
• What is the smallest walk-in tub for a petite bather?
• Will it fit my alcove? Extension panels, end panels, and 60 inch spaces

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