Installing and running the Furrion Chill Cube
Installing the Furrion Chill Cube
How easy is it to install the Furrion Chill Cube RV air conditioner? Does it take any special wiring or installation to replace an existing RV AC? How much power does it consume? We have some answers here.
What is the Furrion Chill Cube?
We often get asked how long we can run the AC in our RV on battery power. It’s commonly known that running an RV AC on battery power is almost a fantasy. We learned about the Furrion Chill Cube a while ago and finally were able to work with Lippert to install one in our own travel trailer.
At the heart of this system, and what makes it so different, is a variable-speed compressor. Essentially most RV AC units have a single speed compressor that turns on and off to adapt to temperature change. The colder you want the air, the more you run the compressor - always at the same speed. You also hear these old-fashioned compressors kick on and off with a noisy clunk.
The Chill Cube’s compressor can run at variable speeds. What this means is that it can slowly ramp up and then provide the amount of cooling power needed to accomplish a task. It absolutely can go full bore and cool our RV very quickly but it also doesn’t really shut off so the temperature stays where we set it rather than cooling down and heating up over and over.
Because of this it also does not require a soft start - starting the compressor only takes about five amps of power. And, because it doesn’t shut off and turn on over and over it doesn’t let your RV heat up between cycles.
If you have a mini split in your home or office it’s similar in function to this and much, much more efficient than the old-fashioned RV AC.
The Chill Cube is available in two models at the moment - a version for non-ducted installations which is the champion of efficiency and a version for ducted installations which is what we got. We have ducts in the ceiling to direct air throughout the RV so it made sense to go with the ducted version. That’s not to say the ducted version is not efficient! Only that the non-ducted one does not have to blow cold air through ducts, so it doesn’t have to work as hard.
The Furrion Chill Cube fits into the standard space of any roof-top RV air conditioner
Installation
Almost all modern RVs have holes in their roof that are 14.25 x 14.25. They generally have 120 volt AC power run to that hole so RV air conditioners are all designed to fit into that hole.
Swapping the existing RV AC out was easy and was done by an installer - the most challenging part is getting the new unit up on the roof but they had fork lifts and machines for all that. For example our friend Bill whom you met last week rented a lift from the hardware store and our friend Bryan just lifted the thing up on a ladder. (Tim Taylor ar ar ar)
For us the challenge was the heater, as our existing RV AC unit’s thermostat also operated the furnace and the wiring went through the AC unit itself. What we did was figure out which wires controlled the furnace and replaced the modern furnace control with a more traditional furnace control.
The Furrion Chill Cube is controlled by a wireless remote control, which comes with it. You can also use a control surface on the unit itself. If you want, you can also install a wall thermostat but we didn’t do this.
For most people swapping out an existing AC unit for the Chill Cube will be an easy process. As mentioned, several of our friends did it.
The control surface of the Furrion Chill Cube - ducted version
Operation
The basic operation of the Chill Cube is that you turn it on and set the temperature. Simple. The unit can automatically handle fan and compressor speeds as needed.
What I found is that it initially does kick on pulling about five amps and can go up to about 15 if it really has a lot of temperature to change - like trying to cool the RV when it’s really hot and I just turned the unit on.
Once it gets things cooled down the whole unit sort of settles down and runs on far less power. Depending on how much cooling is needed I’ve seen it draw as little as an amp. The unusual thing is that it will cycle up and down as needed but not really noticeably.
Funny thing - in the morning if I have the AC running and I light the stove to make coffee the AC unit cycles up a bit as the room has suddenly gotten warmer. It adapts very quickly.
Is it quiet?
One of the complaints about RV air conditioners is that they’re noisy. We took a Coleman Mach Q 15,000 BTU AC out of our RV which isn’t a noisy AC. I measured that unit’s sound level with a free app so not a scientifically accurate measurement but it’s what I have.
That unit produced about 54 decibels of sound which isn’t bad.
I then measured the Chill Cube and it was about the same. But the sound the Chill Cube makes is more like moving air and the Coleman seemed to have more of an engine whine sound. This Coleman wasn’t bad - we’ve had much noisier AC units.
The sound the Chill Cube makes is sort of just like a fan sound although sometimes you hear the compressor when it’s really working to cool the RV but only if you’re really paying attention. You can easily talk over the Chill Cube, even in higher operation. No problem.
Why we did this
The simple reason we wanted this unit was how efficient it was on paper. So is it as efficient as we had read? Yes.
The features and operation of this unit are remarkable. I love how quietly it ramps up the compressor and how the RV doesn’t go through hot/cold extremes in hot weather - it just stays comfortable.
When the unit first comes on it does bite into the battery power but, once it’s achieved the temperature it’s set to it gets remarkably efficient. We have 1200 watts of solar on the roof of our RV and, when the Chill Cube is just maintaining temperature, we can bring in more power than the AC is using. Obviously there are a lot of variables with this, but this is incredible.
Another reason we like this is that we can turn the AC on an hour or so before we get to our destination. That way the trailer is good and cool by the time we get to where we’re going. We’ve also turned it on for those mid-journey meal stops and both of these circumstances mean we’re running solely on battery power.
ABC Upfitters installed a DC-DC charger from our truck to the trailer and, with that connected, the AC actually uses less power than that charging system provides. Again, it’s incredibly efficient.
Efficiency
We have the Hughes Power Watchdog so we can see what the power draw on the unit is.
Typically on start-up the Chill Cube draws about seven amps of power but I’ve seen it consume up to 15 amps depending on how hard it has to work to cool the Rv down. This compares to about 14 amps for the previous unit.
This new AC is so efficient that we believe our Starlink dish uses as much, or more, power over a 24 hour time period. The refrigerator we have now isn’t as power-hungry as the older models but it’s still about equal to the Chill Cube in terms of power consumption.
In other words this is a completely different picture of energy usage compared to your typical RV air conditioner. Yes, it can run on battery power. Yes, you can legitimately run two of these on a 30 amp circuit.
Other features
In addition to the obvious fact that this is an air conditioner, it also offers a few other functions.
There is a mode that limits the compressor to 75% and 50% power consumption which is great for running the unit overnight on battery power which we’ve done now numerous times. There’s also a drying function to take humidity out of the air. Peggy has insisted on this being on pretty much since the unit was installed.
There is also simply a fan mode.
Another unique feature is the “follow me” on the remote where the AC will do its best to have the temperature set be where the remote is - this can be quite a good feature if the AC is in the living room and you’re in the bedroom, for example. However know that this is line of sight so if you close the bedroom door, this won’t work.
You can shut off the display on the unit which is very helpful if the AC is in your RV’s bedroom.
I also like the “auto on” feature. Rather than run the unit all day when you’re not home, you can have it automatically come on within a specific time. Let’s say you’re out for the day and have an idea of when you’ll be home. You can set the AC to come on after a certain number of hours. Or, let’s say you know you have a certain number of hours in your driving day - you can set the AC to come on so that your RV is cooled off by the time you get to your destination.
Final thoughts
If you have an older RV AC unit, especially if it’s noisy, this would be a great replacement. Even if you don’t care about power consumption this AC is very quiet and the way it works is pleasant.
This thing is so efficient if you have two AC units you could run them both on a 30 amp circuit. Or, if the AC is running you can still run the microwave or the water heater on electric. If you’re running on a generator you could potentially use just a single 2000 watt generator with a 30 amp RV and it would be fine.
The unit itself is also smaller, but taller, than many other units. This can be an issue if you’re thinking of using one in the bedroom of a fifth wheel as it may be too tall for some underpasses. But for us the smaller footprint of the Chill Cube means…we’re thinking of adding another solar panel.
One last thing - if you do decide this is for you be careful shopping. There is the Furrion Chill and the Furrion Chill CUBE - the Chill is just a regular AC unit. Make sure that if this is what you want, and it is!, that you get the model with the variable-speed compressor.
