How does the drain work on the Ella LayDown walk-in tub?

The Ella LayDown empties through a single oversized 2 inch threaded brass drain that works by gravity, so there is no drain pump to run and the water simply falls out of the tub into your house drain line. You open and close it from a control on the tub rather than by reaching for a stopper, and each LayDown size can be ordered with the drain at the left or the right end so it lands where your plumbing already is. For the two sizes, the glass door and the rest of the design, start with What is the Ella LayDown walk-in bathtub and which sizes are available?, and read on here for how the water gets from the tub floor to the P-trap.

What Makes the LayDown a Walk-In Tub

A walk-in tub is a bathtub you enter through a sealed, watertight door in the side wall instead of climbing over a high rim. On most Ella models that door leads to a molded chair-height seat, so you bathe sitting upright. The LayDown is the exception. It has a flat floor from end to end with no seat at all, and you lie back in the water at full length just as you would in a conventional bathtub, which is why it comes in familiar bathtub footprints. Its door is a tempered glass panel in a brushed aluminum frame with a chrome locking handle. It swings inward through a 115 degree arc with a door opening of 19 5/8 inches, so nothing has to clear the floor in front of the tub, and you step over a low threshold rather than a tub wall.

Two sizes are offered. The LayDown60 measures 60 inches long by 30 inches wide by 21 inches high, with an interior floor of 46 by 20 inches. The LayDown72 is 32 inches wide by 72 inches long nominal, with the spec drawing printing the overall length as 71 3/4 inches and an interior floor 22 1/2 inches wide. Both give you a soaking depth of 15 inches, compared to about 11 inches in a standard bathtub, which is why the tub feels much deeper and roomier than an average tub while the 60 inch size stands only 21 inches high. If you have seen a 15 inch figure attached to the LayDown, Do they make a bathtub that is only 15 inches high? explains that it is the water depth, not the height of the tub. Straight sidewalls and a textured slip-resistant floor make stepping in and out safer than the curved walls of a conventional tub, and Does the LayDown Tub Have a Seat? Flat Bottom Design, Seat Figures on Listings, Faucets and Therapy Choices covers who the reclined design suits and who is better served by a seated model.

One Oversized Drain Instead of Two

Ella's seated walk-in tubs are known for dual drains. The LayDown takes a different approach because the bather is lying down in a long basin: it uses a single threaded brass drain with an oversized 2 inch opening at one end of the floor. The opening is larger than the drain on a conventional bathtub, so the water leaves quickly under gravity alone. There is no drain pump to wire, run or maintain, and nothing electrical stands between you and an empty tub.

The LayDown60 spec sheet lists a 2 inch brass drain with overflow, and the visible drain opener and cover come in chrome only. On the LayDown72 the drain assembly is made up of a cable-operated drain opener, a copper overflow and a 2 inch threaded brass drain, worked by large, easy-to-turn controls, and the drain hole in the floor of the tub is 2 3/4 inches in diameter. The overflow is part of that same drain assembly. What is the Ella LayDown72 32x72 lay-down walk-in tub? has the rest of the larger model's figures, including the optional folding glass shower screen.

Opening the Drain, and the Door

Because the opener is cable operated, turning the control on the tub works a cable that opens or closes the drain down at the floor, so you never bend into the tub to pull a stopper. The controls are large and easy to turn, which matters for hands that are stiff or wet. The finish of the drain opener and cover is chrome only, so the drain and overflow are not offered in brushed nickel. The faucet set is the only item offered in other finishes, and on the LayDown60 that means the wall-mounted faucet you supply, because the LayDown60 never ships with a factory faucet and has no faucet option at all. The LayDown72 is faucet ready and can be ordered with an optional Ella deck-mount fast-fill faucet.

The drain also decides when you leave the tub. The glass door swings inward, and the routine is to swing the door in, step over the threshold, close it while you are still standing and rotate the handle fully. At the end of the bath you open the drain and let the tub empty completely before you open the door again. With a 2 inch gravity drain the water is removed fast, and the routine is the same on both sizes.

Left or Right Drain, and the Connection to Your Plumbing

Each LayDown is built with the drain at the left or the right end, so find your house drain before you choose, and tell your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 which side you need when you order. The drain ships with a supplied elbow. Your plumber connects the 2 inch tub drain to standard 1.5 inch house plumbing with a common 2 inch to 1.5 inch reducing fitting ahead of the P-trap, so a bathroom that was plumbed for an ordinary tub does not need a new drain line. If your rough-in calls for a straight-down exit instead of the elbow, the team at (800) 480-6850 can help with that setup; mention the model, the drain side and where the existing line comes up through the floor.

• The tub stands on a stainless steel frame with adjustable leveling legs, so the plumber can set it level before making the drain connection.
• The LayDown60 ships in a crate 63 inches long by 33 inches wide by 29 inches high, so check doorway and hall clearance along the delivery path.
• On the LayDown72 the drain hole in the tub floor is 2 3/4 inches, a figure your plumber may ask for when choosing the fitting.
• Ella's Bubbles ships the drain parts with the tub and answers your plumber's questions by ticket or phone; it does not send technicians, so a local licensed plumber makes the connection.

What Drains Itself After You Do

A LayDown takes a single therapy system: soaking with no jets, hydro massage, air massage or microbubble therapy. If yours has air massage, the LayDown60 spec sheet lists 20 air jets, a three-speed pump and auto purge. About 20 minutes after you turn the air pump off, the auto purge starts on its own and runs for 120 seconds, blowing residual water out of the air lines so it does not sit in the plumbing. It is fully automatic, cannot be stopped, and is normal even if it starts while you are still in the tub. So the routine at the end of an air massage bath is simply to drain the tub and leave the purge to look after the lines. Hydro massage on the LayDown runs on its own pump with an intensity dial, an in-line water heater and ozone sterilization, and it circulates the bath water rather than blowing air. How the two systems differ is explained in What is an air bathtub and how does air massage work?.

Related Guides

• Installing the LayDown Tubs, Part 2: The Single 2 Inch Drain, Faucet by Size, Electrical, Therapy Controls and Wall Finishing
• Draining to a Washing Machine Box or a Drain Higher Than the Tub: Why Gravity Drains Need a Pump
• Connecting the 2 Inch Tub Drain to 1.5 Inch House Plumbing, and the Straight-Down Exit for the LayDown Brass Drain

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