How do I report water leaking behind my tub from the deck hole?

Water that runs back down the hand shower hose and out through the deck insert hole almost always means the hand shower was lifted to a wall mount without the barrel extension kit, and the correction is a part you fit from the top of the tub rather than a service call. Why Does Water Leak Where the Hand Shower Goes Through the Deck? walks through the diagnosis. To report the leak, open a ticket at ellasbubbles.com/support or call (800) 480-6850 with your model, serial number, faucet style and photos, and the team takes the review from there. The warranty ships a replacement part once a defect is verified, but it does not cover water damage to structures or property, and it does not cover the labor to remove or replace parts.

Stop the Water Before You Write the Report

The deck insert hole is only a problem when the sprayer is out of its base. If the hand shower hangs on a wall bracket or slider bar, or lies on the deck, any water running down the hose drops into the sprayer base and through that hole into the space behind the tub, where it shows up as drips under the tub or as a stain on the ceiling below. Dock the sprayer in its deck base for now and the path closes. The printed instruction puts it plainly: do not attach the hand held shower to the wall unless you have an extension hose with barrel protection, because this may cause water to leak behind your walk-in tub.

While the sprayer is docked, rule out the other causes that produce the same wet spot, in this order:

1. Hose orientation. The conical connector belongs at the sprayer head and the hex nut connector belongs at the deck mount or shower column. A backwards hose is the first thing the team checks in photos.
2. The small blue check valve inside the sprayer head threads. An empty hole there means the head can drip at the joint, and a replacement head ships with the valve installed.
3. Both hose washers, which are easy to lose and are never reused from an old hose.
4. The sprayer mount base. If it wobbles or lifts, re-tighten the nut underneath if you can reach it. Without access, run a generous bead of silicone around the base and let it cure about 24 hours before using the hand shower.

Hand Shower Leaks at the Head or Deck: Hose Orientation, the Blue Check Valve, Washers and a Loose Mount Base shows each of these checks. If the braided hose itself has split, bulged or cracked near a connector, the hose is replaced on its own, as described in How Do I Replace a Cracked, Leaking Hand Shower Hose?.

Know Which Faucet Set You Have

The correcting part is the wall attachment and water leak elimination kit: a 5 foot extension hose with a stainless steel barrel connector that seats in the shower base and plugs the deck hole. Its coupler threads onto the factory hand shower hose of both the 2 piece and the 5 piece Ella faucet sets, but hoses are matched to the faucet set and the 5-piece hose does not fit the 2-piece faucet, so the team needs to know which set is on your tub before the right hose ships.

The quickest tell is the diverter. The 2 piece set has a diverter push button, and the 5 piece set has a diverter handle you turn. The shower column video on this page shows both sets in use: push the diverter button on the two-piece set or turn the diverter handle on the five-piece set to send water to the hand shower. Some owners of the single lever fast fill faucet also report a quick connect fitting at the faucet end of the hose rather than a threaded one, so a photo of that fitting, or the faucet name from your original order, settles the question. What Is a Barrel Extension Hose (Leak Elimination Kit) on a Walk-In Tub? covers the kit itself and which configurations need it.

What to Include in the Leak Report

• Your model and serial number, from the label behind the magnetic access panel next to the door.
• Your faucet style, whether 2 piece, 5 piece or single lever, with a photo of the diverter and of the hose end at the faucet.
• A photo of the hand shower base on the deck and a note on how the sprayer is normally stored.
• A photo of where the water appears, whether under the tub, behind the access panel or on a ceiling below.
• A description of when it happens, for example only while the hand shower runs from the wall bracket.
• Where you purchased the tub, whether you are the original owner, and the address the part should ship to.

Send it through a ticket at ellasbubbles.com/support or by calling (800) 480-6850. The team verifies the request against your serial number before a part ships, and Ella does not send a technician. The part arrives and you, a handyman or a local licensed plumber fits it.

What the Warranty Does and Does Not Do About a Leak

The walk-in bath warranty is a parts warranty. Once the defect is verified from your emailed or mailed photos and description, the replacement part ships. It does not cover water damage to structures or property for any reason, and it does not cover the labor to remove or replace the product or its parts. That is why the report should go in as soon as the water appears, with the sprayer docked, so the part can ship and the leak path can be closed. Where a part falls outside the warranty terms, the team explains how to arrange it through your order or where you purchased. If you believe the faucet itself is defective, say so in the same ticket, and the team reviews the faucet from the same photos. Ella does not publish a separate escalation procedure for water damage, so the support team confirms the handling steps for your specific report.

Fitting the Kit When It Arrives

1. Unscrew the shower head mixer from the hose.
2. Screw the stainless barrel onto the end of the hose.
3. Screw the extension hose onto the opposite side of the barrel.
4. Seat the barrel in the shower base so it plugs the hole.
5. Screw the mixer onto the other end of the extension hose.

Ella does not offer a plug for the hand shower deck hole, so the kit is the way to close it when the sprayer lives on the wall. Unused Towel Bar or Hand Shower Holes on the Deck: Are Plugs Available? explains the options for the towel bar holes as well. If the spot behind the tub is still wet after the kit is fitted, add one water source at a time to find the real path, and update your ticket with what you find.

Watch: Shower Column Kit for Walk-In Tubs: Two in One - Tub & Shower Combination | Ella’s Bubbles with chapters and a full transcript.

Related Guides

• Installing the Wall-Mounted Hand Shower Slider Bar and the Extension Coupler So Nothing Leaks Behind the Tub
• Hand Shower Holder Loose, Detached, or Broken: Tightening the Base Nut or Replacing the Sprayer Base
• Hand Shower Hose Leaks or Will Not Attach at the Faucet: Replacing the Brass Connector Rod

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