Chilipad Cube Queen, Dual-Zone Review: Take Control of Your Sleep Environment

• Review
• Specs
• Comments

Did you know the optimal sleeping temperature is between 60 and 67 degrees Fahrenheit? Your body naturally cools as you rest in order for the natural sleep process to occur. This supports a deep sleep that allows your brain to cycle properly through the sleep stages for both mental, and physical healing and cognitive processes to take place.

The ChiliTechnology Company motto is “Sleep Cold, Sleep Better” and their products are constructed in order to put control of your sleep temperature environment in the palm of your hand – literally. The ChiliPad Cube is the newest of the ChiliPad line of sleep comfort, and is designed to provide both single and dual temperature controls ranging in 55 to 110 degrees through circulated heated and cooled water. This review pertains to the Queen sized pad that incorporates a dual control for both you, and your partner’s sleep comfort.

Unpacking

Breakdown of the Chilipad Cube

A good night’s rest supports memory, weight loss, reduces both physical and mental stress, and results in a more healthier you. Controlling your sleep environment is an important part of how well you fall asleep and the ability to sleep uninterrupted through the night. And it happens to be one of the easiest variables you can control.

In 2007 a husband and wife founded ChiliTechnology to help create sleep products to influence a better night’s rest. Their focus was to change a critically important sleep component: your sleep temperature.

The Chilipad design incorporates a series of micro-tubes that allow water flow to help control temperature. These tubes are set into a pad that sets under your sheets and is entirely controlled by you, with a few stipulations surrounding overall room temperatures, humidity, body heat, and cube placement.

Each system comes with a pad, complete with tubes, and a cube. Each temperature zone is controlled by a cube that holds and circulates heated and cooled water in the pad. The two are connected by a tubing system and can be controlled via a wireless remote so you don’t have to get yourself out of bed to adjust your comfort. Each cube came with directions, a remote, a tube drain, and warranty information.

Features & Benefits

The ChiliPad arrived at my front door rather quickly after ordering. As seen it came in a medium to medium sized box that was not at all heavy to move into the back bedroom, although it was a little awkward since my reach isn’t that wide. It was a branded box and so it was pretty obvious what was inside. Plain boxes do allow for the cost savings to be passed on down to the customer, and this particular product is a little bit of an investment, although it is a neat little bit of technology I’ve discovered.

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Pad Comfort

The pad is a surprisingly thin, soft quilted topper with a series of micro, medical grade silicone tubing set throughout in order to circulate water for temperature control. Two large feeder tubes feed from each zone to attach to the cubes for water transportation. The tubes are encased in a wider silicon covering, which I found to pick up every speck of dust in the vicinity of the bed. They are very flexible and durable however.

The material of the pad itself is a 150 thread count poly-cotton blend to allow for breathability, and is very soft. It has elastic straps at each corner to help hold it in place on any depth of mattress. I have a 12 inch innerspring with a pillow top and it holds it on well with plenty of stretch to fit a deeper mattress size.

The pad is available in single, twin, twin XL, full. queen, king, Cal king, and Split Cal king sizes, with the queen through Cal king sizes offered as a dual chambered system only. This dual system comes with two cubes and each side can be independently heated or cooled to the sleepers preference without any change in temperature from one side to the other. I’ll note here also that despite using the Chilipad with a mattress protector over it, I did test it without as well and noticed no differences in temperature control.

When I laid directly upon the topper, I was unable to feel the tubing at all. And since it layers underneath your sheets I can’t imagine it really would ever be felt, even by the heaviest of sleepers. Although it is suggested that you use a waterproof mattress protector directly below the Chilipad in case it ever leaks, I also ended up using one over it as well due to the fact that I have little kids and am not keen on having to take it to the laundromat. I did test my pad both with, and without the extra layer to determine if it affected desired temperatures.

Pad Care and Sizing

Surprisingly, the pads are washable in a front load washer only in cool water. You need to fold over and tie up the tubes to keep them from flopping about, but it was good to know that it can be washed if it needs to be.

Since this is a dual system, the pad arrived with two cubes, approximately 9x9x7 inches that attach to the 8 foot tubing via a snap in, secure system. This is easily removed with a button found on the bottom of the unit which also seals the water from seeping out when unattached.

The Cube

Since this is a dual system, the pad arrived with two cubes, approximately 9x9x7 inches that attach to the 8 foot tubing via a snap in, secure system. This is easily removed with a button found on the bottom of the unit which also seals the water from seeping out when unattached.

Set Up

The cubes have air vents for circulation that is part of the heating and cooling process. It is recommended to place the cube on a flat surface with at least 24 inch clearance on all sides, top included. This mean you CANNOT place this unit under a bed. This is also means that finding available space for the units may be problematic for some people. I also have carpeting in my room, but luckily I had an extra shelf from a unit I had never used and placed that in the spot I planned on placing them.

Placing the units at the foot of a bed (the pad can be placed either way) probably is the best way to set this system up if it is convenient. Unfortunately for me, this wasn’t, so I went with the head of the bed placement and ran the tubing behind the headboard. Since they are 8 feet long they were plenty long enough to run both to one side of the bed to a place I had set up about 3 feet from the bedside.

Although I truly don’t have precisely 24 inches of open space in all directions, I do have good airflow to allow for proper air circulation and heat release from the unit as it runs. I also brought the cube further out when testing to see if I had any difference in temperatures, and although I did see a slight difference in the lowest temperature I achieved, it wasn’t truly significant.

Adding Water

Before you run the unit you need to make sure you add enough water. If you turn it on without water, or without enough, it gives you a water drop light on the control panel to let you know this needs to be done. It is recommended to use distilled water, as you won’t have to deal too often with a complete cleanout of the system to remove hard water buildups or even bacterial growths as distilled water is very pure. It’s also inexpensive so I bought a few gallons even though evaporation is going to be practically nothing since it is a closed system.

When adding the water I poured to the top of the reservoir and turned the unit on. It immediately began to feed the water through the tubes and the water level quickly went down and the add water light came on. This occurred three times until I had filled the system. In all I only used about a third of a gallon of water for one unit.

Sound

Once the unit was running, I set the temperature of the unit. It will run continually for 10 hours before turning itself off to reach the desired temperature and maintain it. I tested this during the day so I could check the time on it, and found that it is pretty accurate. It does have a slight fan sound, and even though I’m very sensitive to white noise, this is a low fan sound, similar to what a computer sounds like and after a few moments is hardly noticeable.

Remote

A wireless remote does sync easily with each cube. All you have to do is tun on the cube and hold it down for about 5 seconds until the display blinks 888. Then you turn on the remote and the cube will beep to let let you know the sync is complete. I quickly discovered I was going to mix up the remotes for each cube so I suggest marking them in some manner to determine which remote belongs to which cube.

Test Run

Although the cube has a range of 55 to 110, it very clearly states in the manual the minimum and maximum temperatures are also very much affected by the surrounding ambient temperature, as well as humidity, the space you have around your unit, as well as your own body temperature once in bed.

I also tested mine both with just a sheet, as well as a waterproof mattress protector over it as I have little kids and didn’t want any ‘whoops’ moments. I had absolutely NO changes in my results with the extra layer.

It’s also very important to note that if sleeping without a sheet or blanket is your thing, you may not achieve the temperatures you desire. A blanket acts as an insulator both with the cooling and heating element of this unit, and provides an area to hold in the benefits of the pad. I tested this by having a blanket placed over the bottom half of the bed while leaving the top half uncovered, and I could immediately feel the difference between the uncovered, and covered areas. I also used one side of the bed as a control with no heating or cooling taking place.

Since I could still feel a very drastic temperature difference under the blanket two hours after turning off the cube you definitely want to use some sort of light cover or blanket to reap the maximum benefits. This also allows the unit to keep the water at a more consistent temperature without fluctuation.

It’s also very important to note that if sleeping without a sheet or blanket is your thing, you may not achieve the temperatures you desire. A blanket acts as an insulator both with the cooling and heating element of this unit, and provides an area to hold in the benefits of the pad. I tested this by having a blanket placed over the bottom half of the bed while leaving the top half uncovered, and I could immediately feel the difference between the uncovered, and covered areas. I also used one side of the bed as a control with no heating or cooling taking place.

Since I could still feel a very drastic temperature difference under the blanket two hours after turning off the cube you definitely want to use some sort of light cover or blanket to reap the maximum benefits. This also allows the unit to keep the water at a more consistent temperature without fluctuation.

Room Temperature Fluctuation Results

The ambient temperature of your room is definitely a driving factor to how low, or high your cube temperatures will reach. This makes sense to me since your cube brings in outside air to cool or heat, so the closer the outside temperature is to what you want the less it has to work. With that being said I tested the cube in an 85 degree room and a 75 degree room to see what differences I might notice.

In an 85 degree room I was able to get the cube down to 62 degrees and up to 110 degrees despite setting it at 55. It took about 45 minutes to reach the desired temps without a body lying in the bed. When I pulled the cube away from the wall I was able to get it down to 57 degrees, so my cube placement definitely does affect the temperature in a hot room. Despite that I felt that it was pretty impressive that in such a warm room I was able to achieve a much cooler bed surface.

When I tested in a 75 degree room I had the exact same results, so my determination is that cube placement is more important than room temperature.

Body Temperature

I also noticed that it took longer to reach a desired temperature when laying in the bed. I was able to get the bed down to 66 degrees in an 85 degree room after 45 minutes before falling asleep. It was comfortably cool, and I would assume that it did continue to cool through the night.

Heating seems much less affected by room temperatures and I was always able to reach the temperatures I set; testing it at 70, 90, and 110 degrees within a 45 minute period.

Overall Rating

In all I am impressed with the technology behind this and the construction of the pad and overall design. I don’t have a lot of space for cube placement, yet was easily able to find a place that worked well for my needs. With a blanket for insulation this thing works wonders, and since I love sleeping under a blanket it makes my warm summer nights much more relaxing as I’m not constantly pushing off and pulling one back on through the night due to a more consistent temperature.

The dual control is a great idea and works well when you and your partner can’t agree on a temperature; no more blanket hogging!

I wish the cube was a flat design to place under a bed, or implemented something that didn’t cause it to have to have so much space around it for effectiveness as I can see that being problematic for some people. That being said, I didn’t have much room and was able to find a good area for placement relatively easily.

Benefits

I was pretty happy with my sleep temperatures, and there are a few things to consider that the pad may help with depending on your needs.

• Can be used year round for heating and cooling purposes.
• Only uses 170 watts of power, plus you are heating or cooling your direct sleeping environment, and not the whole room so it can save on overall heating and cooling cost.
• Sleep temperature can be kept consistent through the night without fluctuations that often cause wakefulness.

Concerns

Although I wouldn’t say I had concerns per se, there are definitely some issues you may want to pay attention to.

• Cube placement may be an issue depending on your bedroom size and set-up
• Although it is very well constructed, if a tube is somehow punctured it could leak, hence why they suggest a waterproof protector under it. I honestly think you would have to put some serious effort into creating a leak however.
• Does create white noise that may be a problem for some people.
• The exposed silicon tubes do attract dust and loose hairs very easily. It wipes clean well, but it was a bit of an annoyance.
• It is an expensive investment, so using it to reap the overall benefits, and savings in heating and cooling is a must.

Consumer Proof and Reviews

This ChiliPad Cube version is fairly new as they used to have an older model, so there are many reviews out there to sift through pertaining to long term use of the company’s product. For the most part people are very happy with their ChiliPad and consider it a lifesaver for hot sleepers, women going through menopause, and even soothing for joint pain relief.

There were very few complaints that weren’t specific to defective issues, which were covered under warranty. Others mentioned not being able to achieve desired temperatures, however as I described there are some variables involved with that you should take into consideration. No leaking issues were reported. So far I have found no fault with mine and am impressed I can get it to 57 degrees in an 85 degree room.

Warranty and Care

A two year limited warranty does exist on the product, and customers state that customer service has been easy to deal with when any issues have arisen. Maintenance is easy enough, especially if you use distilled water. It is suggested that once a month you use a forth of a cup of hydrogen peroxide within the system to help keep it clean. It also empties easily enough once you have disconnected the tubing from the cube.

The pad, as mentioned, is machine washable in a front load machine. It also can be dried on an air only cycle.

Every three months a deep clean is suggested where you empty the cube and run the system on the highest heat setting with a half cup of hydrogen peroxide and new distilled water with the cap off.

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You may want to read: Best Mattress Topper to Keep You Cool?

Conclusion

If sleeping hot is an issue for you, you need soothing warm for joint pain relief, or you would like a consistent surface temperature within your control- I do suggest trying out a Chilipad Cube system. The pad design truly provides a consistent, soothing surface temperature that I honestly enjoyed, especially after a long, hot day in the desert where I live. I also struggle with lower back pain and found the heating element to work well and look forward to using that to help as I primarily use warm compresses to loosen tight back muscles.