Can I order an Ella walk-in tub without the bidet jets?

Yes. Bidet jets on an Ella walk-in tub are air jets, not water jets, and they come only with the air massage package, so a tub configured as a soaker or with hydro jets only has no air system and therefore no bidet jets at all. Air jets are built into the shell during manufacturing, so the therapy package has to be chosen when the order is placed and bidet jets cannot be added or taken out afterward, as What Are Bidet Jets on a Walk-In Tub? explains. If you do want air massage but would rather not feel the jets at the seat, the standard seat pillow riser covers them with nothing cut, glued or plumbed.

Why the Therapy Package Decides It

Ella places its air jets in three groups: upper jets in the seat and backrest, bidet jets at the base of the seat, and lower jets in the footwell floor. All three belong to the three-speed air massage system and are fed by the same blower, so a tub either has the whole air system or none of it. That gives you a simple rule for ordering:

• Soaker. No pumps, no air system, no bidet jets.
• Hydro only. Water jets driven by the hydro pump, no air system, no bidet jets. The Standard and Standard60, for example, ship hydro only with 18 hydro jets and have no air massage.
• Any package that includes air massage. The bidet jets are part of it. On the Transfer30, Transfer32, Transfer60 and TransferXXL, the Hydro + Air package includes 17 air jets: 11 upper jets, 2 of which are bidet jets, plus 6 foot jets. The ShaK lists 3 bidet jets among its 37 total jets.

Within a given package the jet layout is fixed, and one-off layouts are not feasible, so there is no version of the air package with the bidet jets left out. The way to order a tub without bidet jets is to choose a jetting package that does not include the air system. Bidet Jets and Where the Air Jets Sit maps the three positions family by family.

What Is Fixed at the Factory

Air jets are plumbed into the shell when the tub is built. That has two consequences for your order. First, the decision is made once, at the time of purchase, and the tub arrives either with the air system and its bidet jets or without them; there is no retrofit in either direction. Second, you cannot ask for the air massage with the two or three seat jets omitted, because the layout within a package is set. If you are weighing the air massage against the bidet jets, decide whether you want air massage at all. Keep the air package and the bidet jets come with it; skip the air package and they are gone.

Keeping the Air Massage but Covering the Bidet Jets

Many bathers want the three-speed air massage on the back and feet and simply do not care for the jets under the seat. The seat pillow riser is the answer there. It is a moderately soft foam cushion about 20 1/2 inches long by 13 inches wide by 3 1/2 inches high that holds to the molded seat with suction cups, and it comes in two shapes. The standard rectangle sits over the base of the seat and covers every bidet jet, while the U-shape with the jet cutout leaves the bidet area open so those jets keep flowing. For your purpose, order the standard rectangle. Nothing is drilled, glued or plumbed, and the riser lifts off if you change your mind later. What Is a Seat Pillow Riser on a Walk-In Tub? describes the accessory, and Does the Ella Seat Pillow Riser Fit Every Walk-In Tub Model? explains that it fits the Elite and most seated tubs, with the right shape matched to your model and serial number rather than assumed.

The riser is the simplest route, and it is the one the published guides point to for bidet jets. The silicone plug method described in Is It Safe to Cap or Plug a Water Jet I Do Not Use? is for a single water jet, where the feed hose is cancelled under the tub and the jet is plugged, and that page itself points to the seat riser as the answer for the bidet jets because it covers them all without touching the plumbing.

How the Bidet Jets Behave If You Keep Them

If you decide the air package is worth it, here is what to expect from the jets at the seat. They have no switch of their own. When you press the Air button, the blower feeds the upper, bidet and lower jets together at whichever speed you have chosen; on Ella's three-speed push control the first press is high, the second is medium, the third is low and a fourth press turns the system off, so choosing low softens every jet including these. Because they are air jets, nothing is sprayed or drawn from the tub; bubbles simply rise around the base of the seat. About 20 minutes after the air pump is turned off, Auto Purge runs automatically for 120 seconds to blow residual water out of the air lines, bidet lines included. It cannot be stopped and is normal even if it starts while you are still in the tub.

What to Tell the Team When You Order

1. Name the model you are looking at and the therapy package you have in mind, since the package is what decides whether bidet jets are present on your tub.
2. If you want no bidet jets, ask for a soaker or hydro only configuration and say so plainly, so the configuration is written up correctly.
3. If you want air massage without feeling the seat jets, order the air package and add the standard seat pillow riser without the jet cutout, and give your model so the right shape is matched.
4. Settle this before the order is placed. Once the tub is built, the air jets are part of the shell.

Your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 can confirm which packages are offered on the model you are considering. If you already own a tub and are unsure what is on it, open a ticket at ellasbubbles.com/support with your model and serial number; the first thing the team will ask is which therapy package is on your order.

Related Guides

• What Are Air Massage Jets on a Walk-In Tub?
• How do air and hydro massage differ, and why do some tubs skip air?
• My walk-in tub turned on by itself: the air massage Auto-Purge is normal

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