How Does the HomeCare 180 Degree Door Work for Caregiver Bathing?

The door on the Ella HomeCare 32x60 is a 27 inch wide aluminum outward-swing door with a two-latch lock that opens a full 180 degrees, so it folds completely out of the way and leaves the whole opening free for a caregiver to move a bather from a wheelchair into the seat. The caregiver closes and locks the door from outside, presses the fill button, and the pre-heated 80 gallon tank fills the tub in about 90 seconds, so the bather is never left sitting in an empty tub while it slowly fills. What Is the HomeCare Transfer Bathtub? introduces the tub itself, and this page covers how the door shapes the caregiver's routine.

What a 180 Degree Swing Lets the Caregiver Do

Every Ella door decides how a bather gets into the seat. An inward door needs the bather inside and upright before it closes past their knees. An outward U-shape door opens 165 degrees and removes that step, but it still needs clear floor in front. The L-shape Transfer door opens 172 degrees and removes the sidewall beside the seat so a wheelchair can pull up alongside. The HomeCare door goes one step further: it swings a full 180 degrees, its handle and lock are on the outside of the door, and the tub is built for a caregiver to seat the bather rather than for the bather to step in alone. Transfer Techniques by Walk-In Tub Door Type sets every Ella door side by side.

1. Open the door fully so it lies back alongside the tub, and bring the wheelchair or wheeled chair up to the opening.
2. Move the bather across into the seat. The leveling legs fine-tune the seat height for transfers, so your installer can set the seat to suit the chair used in your home.
3. Close the door and lock the two latches from outside the tub.
4. Press the fill button and stay with the bather for the whole bath.

Two cautions come straight from the published documentation. The HomeCare is designed exclusively for assisted bathing and is not intended for self-bathing, and use should always be supervised by a caregiver or trained professional, with a healthcare professional consulted before using this or any assisted bathing equipment. How a caregiver should lift or steady a particular person is a question for that person's physical or occupational therapist; this page describes only what the door physically allows.

Floor Space the Door Needs

A door that opens 180 degrees needs room to do it. The dimension drawing on the current spec sheet prints a total clearance envelope of 103 3/4 inches for the door swing, measured across the tub and the open door together. The tub itself has an actual size of 31 1/2 inches wide, 41 3/8 inches high and 59 7/8 inches long, with an interior of about 50 inches long and 25 inches wide, and it comes in a left-hand version, HC3260L, and a right-hand version, HC3260R. Plan the wheelchair approach on the door side, keep that envelope clear of vanities and toilets, and share the spec sheet with your installer before the room is framed. How Wide Is the Door Opening? lists the printed and team-quoted figures for every door family.

What the table means for a caregiver is simple. The inward doors keep the floor in front of the tub free but ask the bather to stand inside while the door closes. The U-shape and L-shape doors open away from the tub, and the L-shape adds the open side for a lateral slide. The HomeCare has the widest door among the swinging doors and the only one that opens flat to 180 degrees, which is why it is the door Ella pairs with caregiver-only bathing. Only the HoistAssist opening is wider, and that tub lifts the bather rather than sliding them across.

From Locked Door to a Full Tub in About 90 Seconds

The door and the tank work as a pair. While the bather is being prepared, the caregiver sets the temperature and the inlet solenoid fills the 80 gallon tank through thermostatic mixing valves, stopping on its own at the set level. Once the bather is seated and the door is locked, one press of the fill (injection) button sends the pre-heated water into the tub. The 9A 900W tank pump stops when the tank is empty or the tub is full.

• Tub fill: 90 seconds. Approximate drain time: 150 seconds. Tank refill for the next bath: 11 minutes under normal plumbing conditions.
• Fill works only when the tank is above the mid-water sensor, and tank filling and injection never run at the same time. Starting one disables the other.
• The system shuts itself off after 1 hour, and one hour after it is off a drain solenoid empties any water left in the tank, so a tank that drains itself is normal.
• Keypad lights report the tank level: yellow means the water is between the mid and high sensors, and red means it is between the low and minimum sensors.

During the bath, hydro massage comes from 8 jets, 6 on the back and 2 at the feet, driven by a 9A 900W pump with an intensity dial and a digital controller. A 1-piece wall-mount faucet rated up to 18 GPM at 60 PSI with a hand-held shower on a slider bar handles rinsing. The full equipment list, including the optional waterfall faucet, is in Ella HomeCare 32x60 Transfer Tub: Assisted Bathing With a Pre-Filled Tank.

When a Lift Is Part of the Routine

The HomeCare assumes the household already has a way to move the bather, whether a wheeled chair, a floor lift or a caregiver's assistance. If the bather cannot bear weight or slide across, the tub the team points to instead is the HoistAssist, model Transfer3060HL, which lifts the bather in its own battery hoist seat rated for about 440 pounds through a 39 1/4 inch opening, with the seat traveling from about 18 7/8 inches to 42 1/2 inches. If you plan to use your own floor lift with the HomeCare, tell your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 the make and model of the lift so the approach and clearance can be discussed for your bathroom. Which Ella Walk-In Tub Works With a Hoyer Lift or Patient Lift? compares the two.

Details Around the Door That Your Installer Handles

A few installation points keep the door area working as designed. The tub has two power cords, a grey cord for the tank and a black cord for the hydro pump, and both go to a 20 Amp dedicated GFCI-protected line at 115/120V 60Hz. The front legs must be screwed into the subfloor and every leg must carry weight, which keeps the door frame square and the latches aligned. When the tub is carried in, the front apron, access panels and end panel come off first, and the crew grips the stainless steel frame, never the door or its handle. The tub ships with a stainless steel chrome wall-mounted grab bar, a removable front apron with one access panel, one reversible end panel, and one 2 inch PVC drain with overflow and a cable-operated opener with an extended handle. Ella does not send installers; a licensed local plumber and electrician do the work, and the team supports them through ellasbubbles.com/support or (800) 480-6850.

Related Guides

• HomeCare 32x60 Troubleshooting: Tank Will Not Fill, Will Not Inject, Drains on Its Own, and What the Keypad Lights Mean
• Installing the HomeCare 32x60 Assisted-Bathing Tub: Faucet Spout Through the Deck, Tank Drain Tee, Supply Lines, Grey and Black Cords, and the Sensor Logic to Test
• Assisted Bathing Options Compared: HomeCare 32x60 Pre-Filled Tank, HoistAssist Battery Hoist Tub, CareGiver Lay-Down With 400L Tank, and When a Transfer Tub Is Enough

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