How much water should be in a walk-in tub before you turn on the jets? Before you switch on any pump in your Ella's Bubbles walk-in tub, the water must cover every jet that pump serves. For a full-body hydro massage, fill until the water is 1 to 2 inches above the highest hydro jets (Ella's official operation video uses 2 inches). For air massage, all air jets must be under water, which means a full-tub fill. For a foot-only massage on a tub with the independent foot massage option, fill the footwell to just below the seat and just above the calf jets. Running any pump before the water covers its jets can permanently damage the equipment, and that damage is not covered by warranty.

Fill Levels by Therapy

A simple rule covers every case: if you can see a jet above the waterline and its pump is about to run, keep filling. How long that takes depends on your faucet and home supply; the fast-fill faucet expectations article explains the range.

Foot Jets with a Partial Fill: It Depends on Your Pump Package

Customers often ask whether they can enjoy just the foot jets without filling the whole tub. The answer depends on whether your tub has the independent foot massage option.

• Tubs with independent foot massage (Hydro + Hydro Foot): Ella installs a second water pump and a separate control for the foot and calf jets. Fill the footwell to just below the seat and just above the calf jets, then press the foot massage button. The upper pump for the seat and back jets stays off, so the dry upper jets are not at risk.
• Tubs with a single hydro pump (Hydro or Hydro + Air): one pump feeds all the hydro jets, including the ones in the footwell. If the tub is only filled to seat height, water will still try to come out of the higher jets, and the pump is running with jets uncovered. On these tubs you must fill the tub all the way before using the foot jets.
• Standard60: this model uses diverter switches on its hydro system that let you choose foot-and-leg jets only, back jets only, or both. Whatever position you choose, the water still needs to be above every jet that will be active before the pump starts.

This second video shows the footwell fill itself. The bather steps in over the low threshold, fills only the footwell with the fast-fill faucet, and starts the foot massage with its own button; a separate dial sets the intensity of the four foot jets and two calf jets. It is the clearest picture of where the water line should sit for a foot-only session: below the seat, above the calf jets.

Dry-Running Is Permanent Damage

Ella's owner's manuals carry the same warning: do not turn on the hydro jets until the water reaches the waterline, the point where all jets are covered, because operating the pumps without first filling the bath above the jets can cause permanent damage to your equipment. The pump is designed to move water, not air. Damage caused by running a pump dry is an operating error rather than a defect, so it is not covered under the warranty. The same care applies to the air blower on air-massage tubs and to the pump on microbubble tubs.

A helpful habit for the order of operations, written out in full in how to take a bath step by step:

1. Step in, close and secure the door, and close the drain (both drains on dual-drain models).
2. Turn on the water and adjust the temperature at the faucet.
3. Watch the highest jet you plan to use. Wait until the water is at least 1 to 2 inches above it.
4. Only then press the hydro, air, foot or microbubble control.
5. When you finish, switch the pumps off before you open the drains, so the pumps never run as the water drops below the jets.

How Full Is Too Full

Ella's manuals set a simple upper limit: do not fill the tub above the center of the drain handle. Above that line, the overflow takes over. Every Ella walk-in tub has an overflow connected to the drain (two overflows on dual-drain models, one on single-drain models), so if you get distracted while filling, excess water goes down the drain instead of onto your floor. The overflow is a safety backstop, not a target; stop filling at the center of the drain handle.

Remember that your body displaces water. The Big4One, for example, holds 127 gallons unoccupied but 75 to 100 gallons with a bather seated, depending on body size. If you fill to the top before you sit down, the level rises when you do. Filling with the door closed while seated, as Ella's operation videos show, keeps this from being a problem. Occupied and unoccupied figures for every model are in the water capacity guide.

Common Questions

For fill guidance specific to your model or therapy package, open a ticket at ellasbubbles.com/support or call (800) 480-6850 and the Ella's Bubbles support team will be happy to help.