What Are the Supply Lines on a Walk-In Tub Faucet?

Supply lines are the flexible braided hoses under the tub deck that connect the faucet to the hot and cold water in your home. Both Ella fast-fill faucet sets ship with two 3/4 inch by 5 foot braided supply lines, one for hot and one for cold, and a third line under the deck feeds the spout. The faucet those lines serve is described in What Is a Fast-Fill Faucet on a Walk-In Tub?.

The Lines Under the Deck

• Hot supply line and cold supply line: the two braided lines that bring hot and cold water to the faucet valves. Each fast-fill set ships with both.
• Spout line: the line that feeds the spout from the valves. It is a separate line from the hot and cold supplies.
• Hand mixer line: the hand shower hose, which is a separate part of its own. On both fast-fill sets the hand shower rides on a 5 foot braided hose with a back-flow prevention valve.

These lines are not all the same, so when one leaks or kinks the team will ask which one it is. Shut-off valves are not included with the tub, and neither are PVC drain fittings. Your plumber supplies them, and it is worth planning easily accessible shut-off valves near the tub so the lines can be isolated later.

Sizes and Threads

Current 2-piece and 5-piece fast-fill faucets use 3/4-inch supply lines, which the team normally has on hand. Older faucets used 1/2-inch NPT lines, which are standard fittings you can pick up at a hardware store, or you can use a 3/4-inch line with a 3/4-inch to 1/2-inch reducer. One caution before shopping locally: on some faucets the line is reverse-threaded at the faucet end, so send the team a photo first to be sure a store-bought line will fit. Sizes, threads and how to identify the right line are in Replacement Hot and Cold Faucet Supply Lines: Sizes, Threads and Where to Get Them.

If a discontinued faucet is being replaced with the 5-Piece Fast Fill set, the new set uses 3/4-inch supply lines while older faucets usually have 1/2-inch lines. When the check valves under the tub have 1/2-inch connections, your plumber fits a 3/4-inch to 1/2-inch NPT adapter, a standard plumbing part. That changeover is covered in Replacing Your Walk-In Tub Faucet Set, Valves or Hand Mixer.

Where the Lines Are When the Tub Arrives

Supply lines travel inside the crate like every other small item. They are individually wrapped, boxed and placed inside the tub or under the frame before the tub is crated, and the hand shower hose ships with the faucet set. If a line seems to be missing, look inside the tub and under the frame first. Photograph the packing, keep all packaging material and report within 48 hours of receiving the shipment, as explained in Parts Are Missing From the Crate. What Do I Do?.

When a Line Leaks or Is Swapped

A drip at a connection is often a washer that is missing or not seated. Rather than mail a loose washer, the team ships a whole new line so the washer is the right one. A line with a poorly crimped end, or one that arrived kinked, is a defect, and the replacement ships once the team has a photo or a short video showing the problem. Have your plumber shut off the supply valves before removing any line. The video below shows a supply line being handled during a shower column installation: the existing hand shower is removed, the column base is fitted into the vacant receptacle, the water supply line is replaced, and the new one-half inch supply line is attached to the diverter on the 2-piece or 5-piece fast-fill faucet.

Watch: Easy Shower Column Installation for Your Walk-In Tub | Ellau2019s Bubbles with chapters and a full transcript.

Related Guides

• Faucet Supply Hose Leaking Under the Deck: Access, Identification and Replacement
• Water Under or Behind the Tub: Finding the Source at Unions, Air Fittings, the Hand Shower, Drain Elbow and Supply Lines

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