How Do I Use the Hand Shower in My Ella Walk-In Tub?

Using the hand shower in an Ella walk-in tub takes three moves: start the water at the faucet, switch the diverter so the water goes to the hand shower instead of the spout, and pull the wand out on its 5 foot retractable hose. Every Ella fast-fill faucet set includes this extendable multi-function hand shower with five spray settings, so seated showering is built in from the day the tub is installed. Which handset belongs on your tub, and why a generic one will not do, is covered in Which Handheld Shower Head Is Best for an Ella Walk-In Tub?.

Step by Step

1. Turn the water on at the faucet the way you would to fill the tub, and let it run until the temperature is where you want it.
2. Send the water to the hand shower. On the 2-piece faucet set you push the diverter button; on the 5-piece set you turn the diverter handle. The spout stops and the wand takes over.
3. Lift the wand out of its deck mount and pull as much hose as you need. The hose is 5 feet long and retractable, which is enough to reach comfortably while seated in the tub.
4. Pick a spray. The head has five settings, and flow is limited to 1.9 GPM by plumbing code, so a gentler setting is normal rather than a sign of low pressure.
5. When you are finished, switch the diverter back so the water returns to the spout, turn the water off, and let the hose retract into the deck mount.
6. After a bath, use the same wand to rinse the tub, the jet covers and the chrome trim before the tub drains completely. The retractable hose was designed with this in mind.

Both Ella faucet sets come with the same style of pull-out hand shower, two 3/4 inch braided supply lines and the diverter, which is why the team recommends keeping the factory set unless you have a specific reason not to. On a new installation the faucet is assembled on the deck but is not hooked up to the supply lines when the tub leaves the factory, so the tub can ship fully drained; your installer connects the supply lines on site, and the hand shower will not run until that is done.

What Is Inside the Hand Shower

The handheld is fitted with a backflow prevention valve to help protect your home's water supply, and a small blue check valve sits inside the head where it threads onto the hose. A washer sits at the same joint. The head threads onto the end of the hose by hand, with the conical connector on the handset and the hex nut end at the deck mount. Knowing this matters for two reasons: if the head ever sprays sideways at the joint, the washer or the blue check valve is the first thing to look for, and if the head cracks you replace just the wand and leave the hose, deck mount and faucet in place.

Mounting the Hand Shower Higher, or Adding an Overhead Shower

Many owners like to lift the hand shower to a wall bracket for a more traditional shower feel. Ella asks that you not attach the hand shower to the wall on your own; ask your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 about the wall-mount and overhead options first, so the deck opening is handled correctly. The Capri, for example, ships with the five-piece faucet and handheld shower on the deck, and customers who want a different setup can upgrade to a wall-mounted or overhead shower.

The shower column kit is the overhead option. The video shows the column being fitted to a tub with the 5-piece fast-fill faucet: the column base goes into the pre-drilled hole in the deck with silicone and the rubber gasket sealed around it, the supply line connects to the underside of the faucet set, the hand shower extension hose attaches to the elbow joint and the multifunction hand shower goes onto that hose, then the riser tube and oversized rain shower head are secured and the mounting collars are drilled into the wall. The installer sets about 7 inches of clearance from the tub deck to the center of the on-off lever. If your tub sits in a three-wall alcove with an extension panel, the column uses the long 4 to 5 inch pipe connector to reach the wall, a detail explained in What Is an Alcove Installation for a Walk-In Tub?. Mention the alcove and the panel when you ask about the kit.

If Your Tub Did Not Come with an Ella Faucet

Every seated Ella tub is normally ordered with its fast-fill faucet set and pull-out hand shower included. The LayDown60 is the exception: it has no faucet option at all and always uses a customer-supplied faucet, usually wall-mounted, so its hand shower is whatever your plumber fits. The LayDown72 offers No Faucet, 2-piece or 5-piece at order time, and a no-faucet order on other seated models still arrives with the deck drilled for the Ella set. In those cases the operation of your hand shower follows the faucet you chose rather than the steps above. The details are in Using Your Own Faucet: No-Faucet Orders, Pre-Drilled Decks, Wall-Mount Options, and Which Tubs Require a Customer-Supplied Faucet.

When the Hand Shower Misbehaves

• Water sprays out the side at the joint. Turn the water off and unscrew the head from the hose by hand; no tools are needed. Look inside the head for the small blue check valve and confirm a washer is present. If either is missing, the head is what needs replacing.
• The head was refitted to the wrong end. The conical connector belongs on the handset and the hex nut end goes to the deck mount. Thread it back on hand tight and try each of the five settings.
• One setting hisses or squeals. Take a short video of it for your request so the team can tell whether the head or the hose joint is the cause.
• The plastic threads have cracked. A crack above the threading cannot be repaired, so photograph it. A matched replacement handset is the fix.

Hoses and handsets are matched to your faucet set, so please do not buy a generic head. Contact your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850, or open a ticket at ellasbubbles.com/support, with your tub model, a photo of the wand and a photo of the faucet. If you bought the tub years ago, the team can look up your original order to match the right handheld. The full checklist is in Why Does My Hand Shower Head Spray Out the Side and Can I Replace Just the Head?.

Watch: Ellas Bubbles - Walk In Bathtub Shower Column Kit Install With Five Piece Faucet with chapters and a full transcript.

Related Guides

• How Do I Replace a Cracked, Leaking Hand Shower Hose?
• Hand Shower Holder Loose, Detached, or Broken: Tightening the Base Nut or Replacing the Sprayer Base
• Why Won't the Diverter Switch to the Hand Shower?

Common Questions