Can I use my own faucet on an Ella tub without voiding the warranty?

Yes. You can use a faucet of your own choosing on an Ella walk-in tub, and doing so does not take away the tub's coverage. A faucet that did not come from Ella simply carries its own manufacturer's warranty instead of Ella's. What protects the warranty is how the faucet gets onto the tub: the deck is drilled to order at the factory, so the time to say you are supplying your own faucet is when the order is placed, as Using Your Own Faucet explains. Drilling new holes in the deck after the fact is the one path that puts the warranty at risk.

What the Warranty Says About Faucets

Ella's Lifetime Limited Warranty is a parts warranty. It covers the shell, frame, door, door seal and finish, and all the supporting equipment, which includes the Ella faucet, waste, overflow and plated finishes. Two exceptions apply to faucets. The Ella thermostatic control valve (TCV) carries a 1-year limited warranty rather than lifetime coverage. Non-Ella brand faucets carry only their manufacturer's warranty. That second line is the whole answer to the question: a faucet you buy elsewhere is outside Ella's coverage, but the tub around it is not.

What the published terms do exclude is improper or negligent installation and modifications to the tub by anyone other than Ella. Any alteration not done by Ella is excluded from coverage, and a hole drilled in the deck is an alteration. Labor is never covered in either case; parts ship under the warranty, and a local licensed plumber does the work, as laid out in Can I Seal a Small Drip Under My Walk-In Tub Without Voiding the Warranty?.

Order the Tub for the Faucet You Plan to Use

When your order is placed, the tub is pulled with your name on it and drilled for whatever faucet you selected. That is the step that decides how your own faucet fits.

• Standard order. Every seated Ella tub normally ships with its fast-fill faucet set and pull-out hand shower. The 2-piece and 5-piece sets both include the hand shower, two 3/4 inch braided supply lines and the diverter. The faucet is assembled on the deck but not hooked up to the supply lines, so the tub ships drained and your installer makes the connections on site.
• No-faucet order. On some seated tubs a no-faucet order is possible, but the deck still arrives drilled for the Ella set. Plan a deck-mount faucet that matches those holes, or cover plates for the ones you will not use.
• Undrilled deck. A deck with no holes at all is available only as a special order, and it has to be requested before the tub is built.
• Wall-mounted faucet. A wall-mounted faucet, including a valve already on your wall, works with every Ella model. This is the route that leaves the deck out of the question entirely.

Tell your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 at order time which of these you want, and have your plumber look at the faucet you are bringing before the order is placed so the deck and the faucet agree.

The LayDown Tubs Are a Special Case

The LayDown60 is never sold with a factory faucet. It has no faucet option at all and always needs a customer-supplied faucet, usually wall-mounted, so on this tub using your own faucet is not a choice but the design. The LayDown72 lets you choose No Faucet, the 2-piece set or the 5-piece set at order time. The LayDown 32x72 video shows that choice on the tub itself, with either set paired with the extendable multi-function hand shower.

What Not to Do After the Tub Arrives

Drilling a new hole in the tub for a faucet or any accessory counts as a modification and can void the warranty. If you want a faucet set the deck was not drilled for, ask the team first. Factory drilling for the set you want can be looked at before the tub ships, and after delivery the choices narrow to a faucet that matches the existing holes or a wall-mounted faucet. A plumber who offers to open up the deck on site is offering to take the tub outside its coverage, however neatly the job is done.

If you keep the Ella set and only want to replace a worn part later, you do not need a different faucet. Hoses and washers are matched to the faucet set, and the 5-piece hose does not fit the 2-piece faucet, so order the part by the set you have, as replacing a cracked hand shower hose describes.

The Reverse Question: An Ella Faucet on Another Tub

Ella faucet sets are also sold on their own. Ella cannot confirm that a set will fit a tub it has not seen, so that decision belongs to you and your contractor, measured against the published specs: the 2-piece set fills at 16 gallons per minute, the 5-piece at 18 gallons per minute, and both come with 5 foot supply lines. Installing the Ella fast-fill faucet on a tub that is not an Ella has the checks to run before ordering.

What to Have Ready

Open a ticket at ellasbubbles.com/support with your model and serial number, or the order name if the tub has not shipped yet, the faucet you plan to use, and whether it is deck-mounted or wall-mounted. The team can confirm whether your tub can be drilled for that set at the factory or whether a wall-mounted faucet is the cleaner route, and your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 can adjust the order before the tub is built.

Watch: Lay Down Tub: 32x72 Walk-In Tub with Hydro Massage Jets - Your Own Home Spa | Ella’s Bubbles with chapters and a full transcript.

Related Guides

• Buying a Fast-Fill Faucet Set or Valve Body on Its Own: Specs, Finishes and Deck Hole Size

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