Does My Tub Have a Heated Seat? Can Foot Massage or Chromatherapy Be Added?

Whether your tub has a heated seat and backrest depends on how it was ordered: it is an option chosen at order time on any standard order, it is not bundled into any therapy package, and the tub carries a control button for it only when it was built in. Independent foot massage and the LED chromatherapy light follow the same rule, and because every Ella therapy system is installed at the factory with its own pump, plumbing and switches, none of these can be added once the tub is made. Can I Add Air Jets, a Heater or a Heated Seat to My Tub Later? sets out the general rule, and this page shows how to read your own tub and your order for each of the three options.

How to Tell What Your Tub Was Built with

Ella installs a control button or switch only when the matching feature is built into the tub, so the deck tells the story. A tub with a single water button and no other controls was built as hydro massage only. A heated seat has its own push button. A hydro plus independent foot massage tub has two push buttons and two intensity dials, one per pump. The LED light is run from a push button or from the digital control pad, depending on the package. Under the tub, the pumps are fairly large components alongside a tank, so a small black fitting seen through the access panel is not a pump.

The second source is your order, which shows exactly what your tub was built with. Have your serial number, which is on the label behind the magnetic access panel beside the door, and your invoice or order number ready. If anything is unclear, send photos of the control panel, the deck around the seat and the underside of the tub through the access panel to ellasbubbles.com/support, and the team pulls the order and compares the photos with what was built. If a feature is on the order and missing from the tub, the team handles it under the warranty. If a dealer or installer quoted a feature that never made it onto the order placed with Ella, the difference is resolved with that dealer, and Ella can confirm what the tub shipped with to support that conversation. My Tub Was Supposed to Have an LED Light or Heated Seat, but There Is No Switch walks through that review.

The Heated Seat and Backrest

The heated seat and backrest is a comfort option, available on any standard order and chosen when the tub is ordered. It is never bundled into a therapy package, so a hydro, air or triple package tub does not have one unless it was added, and a soaking tub can have one even though it has no pumps. In fact the heated seat is the only electrical item a soaker can have: a plain soaker needs no outlet, and with the heated seat the published schematic calls for a 15A 120V GFCI protected line for the heater alone. The video below shows how it works in use. Push the button once and the heated seat activates; turn it on 10 to 15 minutes before you enter the tub for maximum comfort; it turns off automatically after 20 minutes, and pushing the button again turns it back on. If your tub has not yet been built, tell your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 now that you want it. Once the tub is built, it is not added, and clearance or fixed units, such as the Deluxe, are sold as configured and never modified.

Independent Foot Massage

Independent foot massage is a separate therapy package with its own pump and control, not an add-on jet set. A hydro plus independent foot massage tub has two water pumps, one for the upper seat jets and one for the foot and calf jets, with the in-line heater on the foot loop and ozone included. On the deck that means two push buttons and two intensity dials, and the LED light is included with the package. The jets are split between the two pumps rather than added, so you gain a second pump and separate control, not extra jets. If independent foot massage is not on your invoice, the tub was built without it, no matter how similar the online videos look, and it cannot be added afterward because the pump, plumbing and switch are built into the shell at the factory. Some smaller tubs lack room under the shell for hydro plus foot plus air together, so on those models the choice at order time is hydro plus air or hydro plus foot.

LED Chromatherapy Light

The LED chromatherapy light comes with the dual and triple therapy packages: hydro plus air, hydro plus independent foot massage, hydro plus microbubble, and the triple packages. It is not included with hydro massage alone, and because a soaker has no jets it is not included on a soaking tub either. So if your tub has one water button and no light, the light was not part of its package. You may hear from an installer that Ella stopped offering the LED light because of leaks; that is not true. Ella has never dropped the light for that reason, and it remains an available option on new orders. If the light is not on your tub, it was not on the order. The second video shows the light in a finished tub, turned on to set the tone of the bath.

What Can Still Be Chosen, at a Glance

The table lays the options side by side. Every row comes down to the same moment: before the tub is built.

What this means for you: if your tub is already installed, what it has today is what it will have, and the useful step is confirming the build from your order so you know which controls to expect. If your tub has not been built yet, this is the moment to name the heated seat, the foot massage package or a dual package for the light. The complete package menu is in What Comes With Each Therapy Package: Pumps, In-Line Heater, Ozone, Auto Purge, LED, Dials, Pressure Tank and Controls at a Glance. Owners of a soaking tub should read Soaking-Only Walk-In Tubs: No Jets, No Pumps, No Electrical and Can Hydro or Air Jets Be Added to an Ella Soaking Tub Later?, which explain why a soaker is molded without jet openings and keeps only the heated seat as a possible electrical option.

Watch: Low Threshold Walk-In Tub with Light Chromatherapy | Ella’s Bubbles with chapters and a full transcript.

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