Hydronic Cooling Systems (Chilipad, Eight Sleep, etc)

Discussions General Mattresses Questions
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I’m relatively new here, but I am very surprised that there isn’t more discussion/questions surrounding the hydronic cooling systems that are available these days. I’ve seen a plethora of questions about “what’s the coolest mattress” or “how can I make my mattress cooler”, but nary a word when it comes to the Chilipad or Eight Sleep products. :huh:

I’ve slept hot my whole life, and in recent years have suffered from terrible night sweats. I tried many things over the years to try to cool myself down in bed, but absolutely nothing works like a water-circulating chill pad directly under my body!

It’s only been about a week and a half since I bought the Chilipad CUBE system…which I have subsequently upgraded to the Chilipad Dock Pro…but it has literally changed my life! I haven’t felt this good in the mornings since I can’t remember, and NO NIGHT SWEATS! It’s truly a God-send for hot sleepers or those who suffer from night sweats.

The above may sound like I’m a shill for the company, but I’m just a very happy customer who wants to get the word out about these new “miracle” machines and share my joy!

If anyone has any questions, I’m more than willing to help. I did a LOT of research before buying one of these systems…they are NOT cheap.

2

Hi Alan P

Many consumers suffer from ‘sleeping hot’, either due to their environment, their own body temperatures, or the materials in their sleep systems. Normally the suggested remedy is to use a topper, cover or surface layer of the sleep system, as having a cooler sleep environment is very important to getting a full relaxing sleep.

I’m happy to hear you have found success with the sleepme Chilipad Dock Pro, I took a look and it uses a patented mesh/membrane material with a separate cooling unit pumping water throughout, controlled with a dock unit via wifi, they state it maintains a constant temperature of 55 to 115 degrees, so it can be used as a warming layer as well. It looks like the Dock Pro just started shipping in March 2022, so thanks for providing your experiences with this new product.

Great that you can provide more information to any consumers who might be interested in this system. While it is not an inexpensive solution, its’ great that such a product is out there, and that you think so highly of it!

Wishing you many cool nights of sleep in the future,

Basilio

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Hi Alan P,
I’d like to take you up on your offer of advice. My 2014 Chili Cube went out last week, and my quality of sleep has deteriorated since then. My question is whether to stay with the same system (despite the complaints about the company’s product support) or try another, such as the BedJet. Which did you look in to and why did you clhoose the Chili ?

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Hi ewolsh36, I’ll try to help if I can!

You really only have two choices; Chilisleep or EightSleep. I tried the Bedjet (after having the Dock Pro for a week or two) and it was an epic fail! Not only is it ridiculous looking with that snorkle thingy attached to the side of your bed, it doesn’t cool nearly as well as a hydronic pad. I returned it to Amazon after giving it what I thought was a fair shake…about 4 nights. I haven’t tried the EightSleep because the “cover only” version won’t fit on my 18" thick mattress/topper and the “full mattress” version is memory foam which I’m dead-set against.

With Chilisleep, you could choose to just get a new Cube system, or you could upgrade to either the Ooler (which I never tried but have read is much better than the Cube) or the Dock Pro. I tried the Cube, and while it was a revelation to me and led me down this hydronic cooling path, the Dock Pro is much better at cooling. I also really like being able to set up a schedule for different temps at different times of the night, once I got the schedule dialed in, it seems to help me sleep deeper longer. The app is kind of flaky though, tricky to get connected at first and drops the wifi more often than it should, but it’s really just a small annoyance weighed against the benefits.

All that being said, I just had a catastrophic leak two nights ago with my Dock Pro! I decided to check the reservoir and it was completely empty (even though I’d filled it just a couple days before), so I filled it again. It immediately pumped all the water I had just put in down to nothing! I obviously had a leak. I had just put about a half gallon of water into my mattress and foam topper…and it was right before bedtime. It goes without saying that I was pretty furious.

Now, I’ve read all the nightmare stories about their customer service, but that was not my experience…not at all. It was about 10:30pm after I got the bed torn apart, most of the water soaked up with towels, and fans blowing on my bed. I sat down and went to the Chilisleep website looking for what I should do next and noticed they have a Live Chat function. I thought there was no way anyone would be chatting this time of night (12:30am their time apparently), but lo and behold, someone was!

After venting at this poor CS rep for probably longer than I should have, all I had to do was take a pic of the wet pad and send it to her. She authorized a new pad to be sent to me and I got the return label for the leaky pad in my email the next day. Pretty good CS in my book.

If you have any other, more specific questions, I’d be happy to try to help!

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[quote=“Alan P post=92848”]I haven’t tried the EightSleep because the “cover only” version won’t fit on my 18" thick mattress/topper and the “full mattress” version is memory foam which I’m dead-set against.
[/quote]

fwiw to the conversation i have the eightsleep and love it. other than a sound it makes that i’m sensitive to, that i mask with a white noise machine right next to the hub, its been problem free and a delight. i’m not a fan of their new subscription model for the auto pilot, but i bought mine before that was implemented, so i haven’t had to directly face that decision as to its value, but seems to me that should be an included feature.

as to why i responded… in my research leading up to buying it seems that some people don’t use the encasement that the pad attaches to which is the limiting factor on the thickness of the mattress that will work on. most were doing it because they didn’t like how all that covering changed the feel of their mattress, but i don’t see why it wouldn’t work the same for someone with a super thick mattress.

the way it’s assembled is there’s a heavy duty cloth mattress cover that goes over your mattress like any other mattress cover, then gets stretched taught with straps under the mattress. then the pad that has all the sensors and water goes over that and zips around. if you don’t use the bottom one and just stretch the top pad over your mattress it should work. it wont drape down all the way but should cover 8-10 inches. i put a terry and light wool pad overtop mine to hide the feel of the water grid. this and a sheet would hide and keep in place the cover. worth a try if mattress thickness is the only thing keeping you from trying.

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Thank you all for your thoughtful answers! Now I have a lot to think about…