What is a slide bar in a shower and how is it used?

A slide bar in a shower is a wall-mounted vertical bar with a holder that slides up and down it, so a hand-held shower can be parked at any height and used hands-free. On an Ella walk-in tub the slide bar kit is a 24-inch bar with a sliding holder, a 5-foot hand shower hose and a coupling kit that seals the hand shower connection, and it gives the tub's pull-out hand shower a second home on the wall at standing or seated height. Should I choose a shower slide bar or a grab bar? settles the most common confusion, and this page explains what the bar is, how it is installed and how you use it day to day.

The Pieces of a Slide Bar

• The bar. A 24-inch bar fixed to the wall on a lower and an upper bracket, each finished with a chrome cover. The Ella installation video calls the same accessory a sliding shower column.
• The slider. A short piece, about three inches long, that rides up and down the bar and locks at the height you choose. It holds by tension.
• The cradle. Attached to the slider, it rotates to angle the hand shower, and the video shows the holder pivoting from side to side as well as adjusting for height.
• The hose. A 5-foot hand shower hose replaces the length that came with the faucet.
• The coupling kit. A coupler and extension line that seal the hand shower connection at the deck receptacle with a rubber washer. Because it stops leaks at that joint, the kit is also called a leak elimination kit.

How You Use It

Every Ella tub with the 5-piece fast-fill faucet includes a pull-out hand shower that rests in a holder on the tub deck. The slide bar does not add a shower; it holds the one you already have. Set the holder at standing height for a rinse, or lower it to seated height so the spray reaches you hands-free while you sit. Water still comes through the tub's own faucet and hand shower, so nothing about the tub or its plumbing changes. If you are still deciding how you will shower in the tub, Does a Walk-In Tub Come With a Shower Head? Riser, Column and Rain-System Options for a Standing Shower compares the hand shower, the column and a wall-mounted rain system.

How It Is Installed

The video on this page shows the whole job. Because the bar mounts to the wall and reuses the existing hand shower, it can go in on the day the tub is installed or years afterward, which Can I Add a Hand Shower Slide Bar or Rain Shower Column After My Tub Is Installed? explains in detail.

1. Decide where the bar goes and find level. Mark the lower drill hole, drill, insert the anchor and tap it flush, then fix the lower bracket with the shorter screw and slide its chrome cover on.
2. Set the column into the lower bracket. Slip the shower head holder onto the column and place the upper bracket over the column before securing it, because neither will fit afterward.
3. Mark and drill the upper hole, insert the anchor, and drive the longer upper screw through the hole provided in the column. Slide the chrome cover over the bracket.
4. Remove the hand shower head, attach the coupler and tighten it, attach the extension line by hand, and feed the excess line into the deck receptacle. The coupler's rubber washer creates the waterproof seal at the receptacle.
5. Reattach the shower head and set it in the holder. The video warns that overextending the hand shower without the extension and coupler creates a leak hazard, so never skip that step.

Slide Bar, Grab Bar or Shower Column

The differences decide what you can lean on and when you can buy. The slide bar's slider holds by tension, and when it wears it creeps down the bar under the weight of the hand shower, which tells you it is built to carry a hand shower and never a person. Anything you hold while stepping in, sitting or standing is a grab bar, fastened into the wall's reinforced backing by your installer. The rain shower column is a different accessory that replaces the deck holder and is plumbed from behind the tub, so it belongs on the original order, while the slide bar can be added to a finished bathroom. If your tub has the Waterfall wall-mount faucet, its 24 inch slider bar is already included and no separate kit is needed.

If the Holder Stops Holding

When the holder creeps down the bar, the slider has lost its tension; tightening helps for a while, but a worn slider will not hold. If the hand shower droops but stays at the same height, the rotating cradle is loose instead. Slide Bar Holder Will Not Hold the Hand Shower Up: Fixes and Replacement Options walks through the checks. The replacement holder, or the complete slide bar kit, ships as a part under the lifetime parts warranty, and a homeowner or a local plumber fits it. Ella does not send technicians.

Ordering a Slide Bar

The slide bar is an accessory, not part of the 5-piece fast-fill faucet, so ask your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 about the kit for your faucet package. An Ella shower kit is different: it ships with the stall, the grab bar set for that kit and the drain, but no shower head, hand shower or slide bar, and the wall arrives without a valve cutout. What Comes in the Box With an Ella Shower Kit, and What You Still Need to Buy explains that if you want a hand shower on a slide bar in a shower stall, you choose that hardware with your plumber when you select the valve so the wall openings can be planned together.

Watch: Ella's Bubbles: Installing the Wall Mounted Sliding Shower Column 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
• Which Handheld Shower Head Is Best for an Ella Walk-In Tub?
• Installing the Shower Column Kit on Your Walk-in Tub

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