How Does the Drain Work on the Ella LayDown Walk-In Tub?

The Ella LayDown drains through a single threaded brass floor drain with an oversized 2 inch opening, and it works by gravity: open the drain with the cable-operated control on the tub and the water runs out through the supplied elbow, with no pump involved. That is a different arrangement from the dual drains on Ella's seated tubs, because the LayDown is a reclining tub with a long flat floor and no seat, as How Does the Ella LayDown Walk-In Tub Let You Recline? explains. Each LayDown size can be ordered with a left or a right drain to suit your bathroom.

One Drain, Opened by a Cable

Every Ella walk-in tub drains by gravity, and the LayDown is no exception. Its spec sheet lists a 2 inch brass drain with overflow. The drain body is threaded brass, the opening is an oversized 2 inches, and the drain is opened and closed by a cable-operated drain opener control on the tub rather than by a powered drain. When you operate the control, the drain opens and the water leaves through the 2 inch opening, which is why the LayDown empties quickly without any pump and never needs one.

The overflow is part of the same assembly. It caps how high the water can rise, which matters on a tub you lie down in, because the LayDown is built for a 15 inch soaking depth compared with about 11 inches in a standard bathtub. Ella's general rule for its walk-in tubs is to fill to the overflow for the deepest soak and never above the center of the drain handle, and the jets on a massage version need water well above them before any pump runs, as What Is Soaking Depth on a Walk-In Tub? explains.

Left or Right Drain: You Choose When You Order

Ella's seated tubs put the door at one end and the drains on the opposite side, so a right-side door tub has its drains on the left and a left-side door tub has its drains on the right as you face the tub, a rule set out in Can you lie down in a walk-in tub?. The LayDown works differently because its tempered glass door is centered on the long side of the tub. Instead of the door deciding the drain side, each LayDown size can be ordered with a left or a right drain, so you match the drain to the end of the alcove where your existing waste line already is. Tell your Ella dealer which side you need when you order, and have your plumber confirm it against the rough-in before the tub ships.

What Your Plumber Connects

• The drain ships with a supplied elbow. 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.
• Most houses have 1.5 inch bathtub plumbing. Your plumber connects the tub's 2 inch drain to that line with a common 2 inch to 1.5 inch reducing fitting placed ahead of the P-trap.
• The LayDown60 does not include a faucet and has no factory faucet option, so a pre-existing or new customer-supplied faucet, typically wall mounted, must be used. The LayDown72 is faucet ready and can be ordered with an optional Ella deck-mount fast-fill faucet.
• The tub sits on a stainless steel frame with adjustable leveling legs, so the plumber levels the tub on the finished floor before making the final drain connection.

Ella does not send technicians. A local licensed plumber makes the connections, and the team at (800) 480-6850 can answer your plumber's questions by phone.

The Tub Around the Drain

The LayDown60 spec sheet lists an actual size of 60 inches long, 30 inches wide and 21 inches high, with an interior floor of 46 inches long by 20 inches wide. The side profile rises to 25 3/4 inches at the back end, and the glass door opening is 19 5/8 inches wide with an inward swing. The tub ships in a crate measuring 63 inches long, 33 inches wide and 29 inches high, with a net weight of 160 pounds and a shipping weight of 220 pounds, figures to check against your doorways and hallway before delivery. The LayDown72 is the 32 by 72 inch size, made for bathers over six feet tall.

Both sizes come as a soaking tub with no jets or with one therapy system. The air massage option has 20 jets on a three-speed pump with auto purge, which activates 20 minutes after the pump shuts down. The hydro massage option has a hydro pump with an intensity dial, an in-line water heater and ozone sterilization. Microbubble therapy uses an air pressure pump and a pressure tank. An optional glass shower screen is available for either size. The LayDown60 video shows the tub's chrome locking handle, tempered glass door and low threshold, and a bather stretched out for a full body air massage; it does not show the drain itself.

Does the LayDown Recline, and Does It Have a Seat?

The LayDown has no molded seat at all. Instead of a chair-height seat and a footwell, it has a long, flat, textured floor with straight sidewalls behind the centered inward-swing tempered glass door in a brushed aluminum frame, so you step in over a low threshold and lie back the way you would in a conventional bathtub. There is no reclining mechanism or lever. The seats on Ella's seated models are molded at a fixed angle and do not mechanically recline either. One detail causes confusion: the LayDown spec sheet uses the same template as the seated tubs and prints a seat line even though the tub has no seat, so set that line aside and plan around the floor and depth figures. If you want seating in a LayDown, a folded bathtub seat and a removable bathtub seat are offered as accessories, and a seat pillow adds comfort. If you would rather have a built-in seat in a lounging layout, the Lounger described in Does Ella make a single-person walk-in tub with a reclining lounge seat? has a 20 inch seat in a 27 by 59 by 40 inch shell.

Watch: The 3060 Walk-In Laydown Tub: A Solution for Cool & Stylish Accessibility | Ella's Bubbles with chapters and a full transcript.

Related Guides

• How Do I Open or Close the Drain in My Walk-In Tub?
• My drain will not open or close: replacing the drain cable and adjusting drain height
• Is the Flexible Drain Hose Still Available? The PVC Elbow That Replaced It

Related Videos

Common Questions