Infusion Microbubble Therapy is one of Ella's most popular therapy options. With one touch of a button, the system fills your bath with billions of tiny oxygen rich bubbles, each smaller than 50 microns, that soften and exfoliate the skin and turn the water a beautiful cloudy white. It is a skin therapy rather than a massage, and customers with dry or sensitive skin choose it most often. This article explains what microbubble therapy does, which tubs offer it, how it differs from our H2 hydrogen therapy, and what to check if the system stops making bubbles.

What Infusion Microbubble Therapy Does

Here is what the video shows:

• Just one touch of the micro button generates literally billions of microbubbles from a single port in your walk-in tub.
• The system produces water with up to 70 percent more oxygen than regular tap water.
• Microbubbles create a warm, skin softening bathing experience that exfoliates, invigorates, and detoxifies.
• The water in your tub turns from clear to completely cloudy as the microbubbles are generated and fill the tub. That cloudy white water is the therapy working, not a water quality problem.

Operation could not be simpler: fill the tub so the water covers the microbubble port and the intake, as shown in our water level guide, touch the micro button once to start the system, and touch the micro button once again to turn it off. The bubbles are generated from a single port in your tub, and the water turns from clear to cloudy while the system runs.

Which Tubs Offer It

The video above presents the hydro massage plus Infusion Microbubble package, which is available on the Elite, Royal, and Petite models. It also lists what rides along with that package: the intensity dial, foot jets, ozone sterilization, your choice of faucet, dual 2 inch drains, the swivel tray, the optional heated seat, chromatherapy, and an extension panel for 60 inch alcoves. Beyond that package, microbubble therapy is offered as an optional system on many Ella configurations across both the stainless steel inward swing door family and the outward swing door family, including the Ultra, Capri, Monaco, Front Entry, the Transfer32, Transfer60 and TransferXXL, the large single-seat tubs, the two-seat tubs and the LayDown tubs, on its own with hydro massage or as part of a combined air plus hydro plus microbubble package. Because availability is configured per model and per therapy package, the surest checks are your model's product page and spec sheet, our guide to therapy combinations by model, or a quick note to our team with the model you are considering. Ella also builds the Fiji and Solo microbubble alcove bathtubs for bathers who do not need a walk-in door.

A few useful technical details from the therapy schematics:

• The microbubble system uses its own dedicated water pump and a pressure vessel. Water is drawn in, pressurized in the microbubble tank, and released through the single port as billions of microbubbles.
• The system has its own on and off control, separate from the hydro and air massage controls.
• Combined therapy packages that include microbubbles require two dedicated, GFCI protected 120 volt 20 amp lines, so plan the electrical work with your installer.

Microbubbles Are Not the Same as H2 Hydrogen Therapy

Infusion Microbubble Therapy infuses the bath with oxygen rich microbubbles. It is a different system from Ella's H2 hydrogen therapy, which dissolves molecular hydrogen into the bath water. The Standard60 offers a combined H2 and microbubbles system that delivers both: its hydrogen concentration reaches 1500 PPB by the time the tub fills to the drain overflow and can rise to about 2000 PPB during an extended 15 to 20 minute bath, and every hydrogen tub is individually tested before shipping with verifiable test results. To learn more about that system, see our article on H2 hydrogen and microbubbles on the Standard60.

Caring for the Microbubble System

The same monthly vinegar flush used on every jetted Ella tub keeps the microbubble lines fresh; see cleaning and monthly maintenance. Do not run bath bombs, oils or Epsom salts while the microbubble system is operating, since they can clog the fine port and pressure tank; our guide to Epsom salts and bath products explains what is safe and when.

If the Microbubble System Stops Working

When the micro button does not produce bubbles, the signal and water path runs from the push control to a relay switch, then to the microbubble water pump, the pressure tank, and finally the jet, so a fault anywhere along that chain can stop the show. If the microbubble pump will not start, hums, or has locked up, please do not assume the pump has failed. Loose connections, a tripped GFCI, and an air locked control line are far more common causes, and our step by step guide to pump and massage system troubleshooting walks through the same checks our technicians use. Buzzing without cloudiness, or large bubbles instead of a fine cloud, are covered in microbubble system not working. If the checks do not bring it back, send us your model, serial number, and a short video of what happens when you press the button, and we can usually diagnose the rest quickly.

Common Questions

Still need help? Our team is always happy to assist. Open a ticket at ellasbubbles.com/support or call (800) 480-6850.