Today’s RV gadget review is of the new Furrion Chill Cube RV air conditioner. Unfortunately RV air conditioning hasn’t really progressed much in the past few decades but we RVers are evolving.

RV AC in the past

Unfortunately one of the reasons RV air conditioners haven’t seen much innovation is simply because of demand. Many RVers spend their time in RV parks where they are given 30 or 50 amps of power and have no issues using as much as possible. After all, they paid for it.

But increased interest in boondocking and off-grid camping has meant that more RVers are looking for ways to reduce their consumption since they’re either using larger battery and solar packages such as those our sponsor ABC Upfitters specializes in, or are turning to generators.

The biggest consumers of power have been the air conditioner and the people at Furrion, a major RV supplier that is part of the Lippert family, have been listening. They have come up with a new RV air conditioning system called the Furrion Chill Cube that is a modern air conditioning system in every sense of the word.

Consider your home’s air conditioning. If you’ve gotten a new air conditioner in the past few years the difference in efficiency in new units is astounding. So the technology is there already.

What is the Furrion Chill Cube?

Essentially Furrion’s Chill Cube air conditioner is a roof-mounted AC system that is a direct replacement for many of the RV air conditioning systems available now. This is a “direct dump” system at the moment but incorporates a wireless remote control. While the highest-performing rooftop air conditioners for RVs have traditionally offered 15,000 BTU of cooling, the Chill Cube manages 18,000 BTU.

That remote does more than just change settings - it can also be a temperature sensor so if you bring it into the front of the RV, the Chill Cube will work to maintain cooling there. If you move to the back, it adjusts accordingly.

How it works

Furrion’s new Chill Cube air conditioner incorporates a variable speed compressor with two cooling fans.

Chill Cube turns itself on and gradually ramps up to 100% power, eliminating the noticeable clunk most RVers are accustomed to. As Chill Cube reaches the desired temperature inside the RV the AC winds down and continues to run at lower speeds to maintain the temperature. The new fan configuration reduces fan noise by nearly half.

If the system senses the need to increase performance it slowly ramps up speed and continues to run where it needs to.

Typically air conditioners in RVs operate in one of two ways. On. And off. When they’re on often it’s difficult to hear podcasts or other recorded content. When they’re off you breathe a sigh of relief but RVs aren’t all that well insulated so it won’t be long before the AC is back on again and you’re having issues hearing the StressLess Camping RV podcast.

According to Daniel Putt, Furrion division refrigerations systems project engineer, the new technology provides both improved cooling capacity while also using less energy.

In fact my first experience with this technology was in the Keystone Outback OBX 17BH adventure trailer. In fact it took me a few moments to realize that the air conditioner was even on when I was speaking with Scott Sekal from Keystone inside this trailer.

More efficient

Air conditioners in RVs are measured by EER or energy efficiency ratio. The EER indicates the AC’s cooling capacity when using a specific amount of energy. The higher the EER number, the more cooling at a given power consumption level.

For decades RV air conditioning units never achieved a rating higher than about 5-6.

According to Putt the Chill Cube should get a rating of about 10-11. That’s quite significant and represents a big leap in efficiency.

According to Putt the Chill Q should be able to operate easily on a standard 2,000 watt generator. In fact the Chill Cube’s power consumption is about 1/3 less than traditional air conditioners. But it also puts out more cold measuring about 18000 BTU of cold compared to 15,000 for larger RV AC units and 13,500 for many of the smaller units.

In an article in RV News Putt was quoted as saying that the Chill Cube is so much more efficient than typical RV air conditioners that you might find a single unit is sufficient even in larger RVs.

Because of how the Chill Cube starts it doesn’t need a soft start system installed - a cost savings and also less potential for issues with having to install one of those units.

But there’s even more. A typical RV air conditioner is only good for about a 20 degree drop in temperature whereas the Chill Q achieves about a 30 degree drop.

Less power

There’s another feature where the Chill Cube can determine how much power is available and drop consumption accordingly. This proprietary technology is called “Gear Mode.”

While the AC unit does produce less cooling if it senses lower available power it still works and can ramp back up once it determines that there is more power available. This can be game changing if the unit is operating in a boondocking setting.

Further you can set the Chill Cube to step down power consumption by 25 or 50 percent manually so you could run a microwave or other high-draw appliance if need be.

Another feature is an inverter technology that prevents the unit from freezing which can happen to traditional RV air conditioners, particularly overnight.

Conclusions

This new RV air conditioning system is so different and revolutionary that we’re giving it our first Best Boondocking Gadget award. I truly believe that this air conditioner is going to change the game for so many of us boondockers by reducing the power demand that goes to air conditioning that I think it is worthy of the award.

Right now it’s in limited availability and only a few RV manufacturers have stepped up including Ember RV and Keystone. But you can bet with the power behind the Lippert/Furrion companies and how good this new AC system is, it’s going to be a huge hit in the very near future.