Why Does My Walk-In Tub Still Smell Musty After the Vinegar Flush?

A musty smell that survives one vinegar flush usually means the flush loosened residue inside the pump lines without carrying all of it out, and the answer is to repeat the flush until the drained water runs clear. If the smell continues after repeated flushes, the next checks are the pump inlet cover, what goes into the bath water, whether the tub sat unused for a while, and whether the ozone generator still has power. The residue itself, and why it breaks loose as dark specks, is explained in Why Do Black Flakes or Slime Come Out of My Tub Jets?.

Why One Flush May Not Be Enough

The published flush is: combine 2 cups of white vinegar with 2 cups of water, fill the tub with water to one inch above the highest jets, add the mixture, run the tub for 10 minutes, then drain. What it is working on is body oils, soap film and bath product residue that has collected in the plumbing, often after months of daily use without a monthly flush. One pass loosens the film; it does not always clear it. Look at the drained water. If it carries flakes, a dark film or the same smell, refill and run the flush again, and keep repeating until the water runs clear. The same flush is the monthly routine that keeps the smell from coming back, and it applies even if you soak with the jets off, because a jetted tub has plumbing behind the shell whether or not the pumps run, as noted in Can I Use My Jetted Ella Walk-In Tub as a Plain Soaking Tub With the Jets Off?. Flushing after every bath is not necessary because the air and hydro systems are fully plumbed.

Inlet Cover, Bath Products and a Tub That Sat Unused

• Remove and clean the pump inlet cover of hair and debris, then wipe it with a non-abrasive towel. Hair and debris collecting on the cover is one of the listed causes of buildup, and the cover is part of the monthly routine.
• Review what goes into the water. Oils, bath beads, bubble bath and bath bombs feed the buildup and clog jets, so set them aside.
• Wipe the shell, including any ring or film on the walls, with mild dish soap or a 1 to 1 vinegar and water mix on a soft cloth. A film on the walls holds odor as surely as the lines do.
• If the tub sat unused before the smell started, water left in the lines developed a film that now breaks loose. Flush and drain the pump circulation system before the next bath, then return to the monthly schedule.

The Air Lines and the Auto Purge

If your tub has air massage, the air lines are a second place water can sit. After the air pump is turned off, some water naturally flows back into the air piping, and if it were left there it would create mildew or bacteria. That is what the Auto Purge is for. It activates automatically 20 minutes after the air pump is turned off and runs for 120 seconds, blowing air through the system to dry the lines. It is fully automatic, cannot be stopped, and is normal even if it starts while you are still in the tub; the tub sounds like it is running, but it is only the purge. If you use the air massage regularly, note whether you hear the purge after each bath, because that detail helps the team if you open a ticket. On a three-speed air system the push control cycles high on the first press, medium on the second, low on the third and off on the fourth, so make sure the fourth press has actually switched the pump off before you leave the tub.

The Ozone Generator and Smells That Are Not Musty

On any Ella tub with hydro jets, an ozone generator under the deck feeds ozone into the hydro water system to eliminate mold and bacteria and to prevent mildew and odor from developing in the lines. On a hydro-only tub it is powered whenever the tub has power, around the clock. On an air plus hydro tub it is switched with the hydro pump. Either way, it only treats the lines while it has power, so if the generator was unplugged, or a wall switch controls the tub's supply and is left off between baths, the lines lose their ozone treatment. Why Does My Walk-In Tub Ozone Generator Run All the Time, and Can I Turn It Off? explains when it runs by package, and the basics are in What is ozone sanitation, and is the light humming noise from my tub normal?. Air-only and soaking configurations have no hydro pump and no ozone generator, so they rely entirely on the flush. Two other smells are easy to confuse with must. A slight clean scent after the jets run, along with a light hum and a faint hiss from the small check valve on the unit, is the ozone generator working, and it clears with the bathroom fan. A hot plastic or hot rubber smell is not a cleaning issue at all; it points to an electrical short in a pump or the control box, so switch off the breaker and follow Burning or Hot Plastic Smell From Your Walk-In Tub: Isolating the Pump or Control Box.

When to Open a Ticket

If flakes keep returning after repeated flushes, or a persistent mildew smell stays around the drain or pump area after the checks above, open a ticket at ellasbubbles.com/support or call your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850. Include your model and serial number, a photo of the debris in the drained water, a note on how often the tub is used and how long since the last flush, and whether the tub has air massage and the purge runs after a bath.

Related Guides

• Black Flakes, Brown Slime, or Debris Coming From the Jets: Cleaning Steps That Work
• Is Bubble Bath, Bath Bombs or Bath Oil OK in a Jetted Walk-In Tub? What the Jets Can and Cannot Handle
• What Is the Pump Inlet Cover on a Walk-In Tub?

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