How Can You Make a Bubble Bath at Home in Your Walk-In Tub?

There are two ways to make a bubble bath at home in an Ella walk-in tub. The air massage system pushes air through jets around the seat for a soft, bubbly massage you adjust with the push control, and ordinary bubble bath is fine in small amounts if you want foam, with the caution that the jets whip soap into far more foam than a standard bathtub. Start with a small fraction of your usual capful, let the jets run for a minute before adding more, switch the jets off for a moment if the foam gets ahead of you, and afterward rinse the tub and run the hand shower over the jets so no soap film dries inside the lines. The product rules behind all of this are in Can You Use Bubble Bath or Shampoo With the Jets Running? Managing Foam in a Jetted Walk-In Tub, and this page walks through the bath itself from the first fill to the rinse.

Three Kinds of Bubbles in an Ella Tub

Before you reach for a bottle, it helps to know that an Ella tub can make bubbles without any soap at all.

• Air massage bubbles. A separate air pump blows air through sealed, fully plumbed lines to air jets in the seat and between the legs, and the air rises through the bath water as a blanket of bubbles. Only air moves through those lines while the system runs. This is the system people mean when they call an Ella tub a bubble tub, and it is explained in What Is a Bubble Tub and How Does Air Massage Work?.
• Infusion microbubbles. On tubs with the microbubble option, one touch of the micro button generates billions of tiny bubbles from a single port, producing up to 70 percent more oxygen than regular tap water. The water turns from clear to completely cloudy as the tub fills with them, and the effect is a warm, skin-softening bath rather than foam. The video on this page shows the water going cloudy as the microbubbles are generated.
• Foam from bubble bath. This is the only kind that comes from something you add, and it is the kind that needs managing, because the hydro and air systems churn the water constantly and a single capful can produce a mountain of foam that climbs over the deck.

Making an Air Massage Bubble Bath, Step by Step

1. Fill the tub with the door closed and settle into the seat.
2. On the push control, press the air button once. The first press starts the air massage on high speed.
3. Press a second time for medium and a third time for low. There is no reverse ramp, so pressing through to the third setting is how you get the softest bubbles.
4. A fourth press turns the system off.
5. On a digital touchpad, touch the air bubble icon once to start, use the plus and minus buttons to change intensity, and hold the icon for two seconds to turn the air off.

About 20 minutes after the air pump is turned off, the Auto Purge starts on its own and runs for 120 seconds to blow residual water out of the air lines. It is fully automatic, cannot be stopped, and is normal even if it begins while you are still in the tub. Because the lines clear themselves this way, you do not flush the tub after every bath.

Making a Foamy Bubble Bath with the Jets

1. Fill the tub first, so the soap goes into water rather than onto the dry shell.
2. Add a small fraction of your usual capful of bubble bath. Any ordinary bubble bath brand is fine.
3. Start the jets and let them run for a minute before you decide whether you want more. The air and hydro systems build foam far faster than a bath without jets.
4. Add a little more only if you want it. Shampoo and body wash foam heavily under the jets too, so use a little and expect suds when you wash your hair.
5. If the foam gets ahead of you, switch the jets off for a moment and it will settle. Switch them back on at a lower setting once it has.

Once you have found the amount that suits your tub, note it, because the right amount is usually much smaller than the bottle suggests. If the tub has sat unused for a long time before this bath, run the first-use vinegar flush before you fill it for bubbles, as described in How Do I Start Using a Walk-In Tub That Sat Unused for Years?.

What to Keep Out of the Water

Everything in the bath water travels through the fully plumbed jet lines and the pump, which is why some bath products are welcome and others are not.

• Bath bombs stay out of a jetted tub entirely. Their oils, dye and glitter lodge in the jets and can damage the pump system.
• Bath oils, bath beads and fragrance beads, including oil products such as Skin So Soft and bead products such as Calgon, lodge in the pumps and jets, and damage caused that way falls outside the warranty.
• Scented bath salts carry the same oils, dye, glitter and floral bits and are not recommended.
• Epsom salts are fine as long as they are fully dissolved. The best practice is to enjoy the hydro, air or microbubble therapy first, dissolve the salts completely in a cup of warm water, add them for a still soak afterward, then drain and wipe the chrome so salt residue does not spot it. The full verdict list is in Can I Use Epsom Salts, Bath Bombs or Bubble Bath in My Walk-In Tub?.

Cleaning Up so the Next Bubble Bath Is Fresh

After a foamy bath, rinse the tub and run the hand shower over the jets so soap film does not dry inside them. The tub helps from there: the ozone generator runs whenever the hydro system is on to sanitize the water, and the Auto Purge clears the air lines after the air massage. Once a month, run the vinegar flush. Combine 2 cups of white vinegar with 2 cups of water, fill the tub to 1 inch above the highest jets, add the mixture, run the tub for 10 minutes, then drain. The flush loosens body oils, soap film and bath product residue in the plumbing, and it is also the fix if a musty smell or dark specks ever show up from the jets. If one flush does not clear it, repeat until the drained water runs clear, as explained in Why Does My Walk-In Tub Still Smell Musty After the Vinegar Flush?. Bubble bath used sparingly and rinsed away does not create that problem; oils, beads and bombs do, which is the whole reason the lists above are so short.

Watch: Infusion Micro-Bubble Therapy For Walk-In Tubs | Ella's Bubbles with chapters and a full transcript.

Related Guides

• Can I use Epsom salts, bath bombs, bubble bath, or oils in my walk-in tub?
• How do I clean a walk-in tub and its jets properly?
• Before Your First Bath: The Initial Vinegar Flush and First-Use Checklist

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