Which walk-in tub features matter most for safety and independence?

The features that matter most are the ones that remove the reasons people fall in a bathroom: a low step-in threshold, a molded chair-height seat, built-in grab bars and a textured floor, followed by a door style that suits the room, drains that empty the tub quickly, and a faucet with a hand shower so bathing can happen seated. Every Ella walk-in tub includes the first group as standard, so the decisions that separate one model from another are threshold height, seat width, door swing and the therapy package, in the order described in How Do I Choose a Walk-In Tub for Aging in Place?.

Safety: Threshold, Floor, Grab Bars and the Door Latch

A conventional bathtub asks the bather to lift a leg over the rim, lower down to the tub floor, and later stand up from that floor on a slippery surface. A walk-in tub removes each of those moves, and the first video on this page shows the point in a few seconds: a low threshold entry and textured slip-resistant floors that make entering and exiting safe, even from a wheelchair. The figures to compare are small but they decide the daily routine.

• Step-in height. The Ella Mobile 26x45 lists a step-in of about 3 3/4 inches. The S-Class is offered with a 3 inch threshold height in place of the 6 inch height, a version that requires subfloor access to the drains, so it is a choice to make before the tub is ordered.
• Textured floor and grab bars. On the S-Class 30x52 and 30x60 the tour shows the textured floor, wall and deck grab bars and a built-in towel rack, so the bather steps in near floor level, turns and sits.
• A door that seals without effort. A chrome stainless steel latch pulls the inward-swing door tight against its seal, and the outward U-shape doors secure with three latches, as the second video lists. The door is what keeps the water in, so how easily it locks is a safety feature, not a finish detail.
• Drain controls you can reach. Oversized easy-turn drain openers with a large 2 inch drain and a safety chain let the tub empty without the bather bending for a small stopper.

Are Walk-In Tubs a Good Choice for Seniors and Aging in Place? explains how each of these changes the bath for an older bather.

Comfort: Seat Width, Warmth and Therapy

Once the bather is safely inside, comfort comes down to the seat and the water. Seat width varies more than most people expect: the Mobile has a 19 to 20 inch seat, the S-Class a 21 inch seat, the Royal a 23 inch seat that is the widest in the stainless family, and the Front Entry a 25 inch seat on the spec sheet, quoted as 24 inches in its video. An optional heated seat, a digital controller and seat cushions are offered on the Front Entry, and the second video lists a bathtub wall pillow among the add-ons. Therapy is chosen when you order. The Front Entry, for example, comes in Air + Hydro, Hydro + Microbubble, Hydro and Soaking packages, with 13 hydro jets and an in-line heater, and 16 air jets on a three-speed blower whose Auto Purge starts about 20 minutes after the air pump is turned off and runs 120 seconds to clear the lines. The full package list for that compact model is in Ella Front Entry 32x40: The Compact End-Door Tub.

Independence: Door Swing, Drains and a Seated Shower

Independence means bathing without a helper, and three features carry most of that load. The first is the door swing, because it decides how you approach the tub. Inward-swing doors on the Royal, Elite, Petite, Deluxe, Ultimate, Ultra, Companion and Escape, and the acrylic S-shape door on the Standard, Zen and Flow, need no floor space in front of the tub. Outward U-shape doors need clear floor: the Mobile's door swings through 165 degrees with a 19 1/4 inch opening, and the Front Entry puts its outward door on the 32 inch end so you walk straight in from the front, which is why it is the one Ella model not ordered as left-hand or right-hand. Side-door models are ordered by door side as you face the tub, and the door and the drains sit on opposite sides, so a right-side door puts the drains on the left. The second feature is the drain. Dual-drain technology on most models, or the Front Entry's single 2 inch 2-port drain with an emergency pull chain, shortens the seated wait after the bath. The third is the faucet. The 2-piece fast-fill set delivers up to 16 GPM and includes a pull-out hand shower for seated rinsing, and the optional shower column adds a height-adjustable rain head with a maximum of approximately 90 inches and 14 inches of adjustment down to approximately 76 inches. The column must be installed before the final installation of the tub, so decide on it when you order. What Is the Best Walk-In Tub and Shower Combo? shows the diverter, the hand shower and the four-fold glass screen that keeps spray in the tub.

Feature Priorities at a Glance

Read the table from the top down. Threshold, seat and door swing are the rows that decide whether a bather can use the tub alone, and they are fixed by the model, so settle them first. Drains and faucet come with the model as well but change the routine more than the fit. The shower column and the therapy package are the rows you can tailor, and both are settled when you order because the column needs access to the back of the tub and the jets are built into the shell.

Walk-In Tub or Walk-In Shower?

Be honest about whether a tub is the right product at all. If the bather will use a wheelchair in the bathroom and prefers to shower, Ella also makes shower bases with a zero threshold that sit flush with the floor. If the bather wants both a soak and a shower, an Ella tub with a deck-mount fast-fill faucet already works as a shower through its hand shower, and the column adds the overhead rain head. For a short space or a single-wide mobile home, the team recommends the Mobile 26x45, at 45 inches long, 26 inches wide and 39 1/4 inches high, and the Front Entry 32x40, which can slide into a space only 40 inches long. Floor loading matters there, since water weighs about 8.34 pounds per gallon and the Front Entry weighs 200 pounds empty while holding 70 gallons unoccupied, so Are walk-in tubs a good option for mobile homes? walks through the structural check.

Installation, Support and the Warranty

Ella's Bubbles manufactures the tub and does not perform installation. A licensed local plumber or electrician does the work, and each hydro or air package needs a dedicated GFCI 110/120V 60Hz line, with two lines for Hydro + Microbubble or the heated seat. Ella provides free lifetime technical support by phone, email and video for your contractor, and can refer installers from its network. The published Lifetime Limited Warranty covers the shell, frame, door, door seal and finish together with the supporting equipment such as pumps and controls, as parts only, with the thermostatic control valve carrying a 1-year limited warranty. Labor is never covered, and the warranty is put in force by completing the activation form, signed by both the customer and the installer, at ellasbubbles.com/warranty-activation/. For help matching these priorities to a model, contact your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850, or open a ticket at ellasbubbles.com/support.

Watch: Why Homeowners Choose Ella’s Walk-In Tubs | Safety, Speed Drain & Spa Options with chapters and a full transcript.

Related Guides

• What is the best walk-in tub, and how do I compare models?
• Which Ella walk-in tub is right for me? Choosing between the tub families
• Step-In Threshold Heights by Model and How Low It Can Go

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