What about cooling just your bed??

[fox9988]

Originally Posted by fox9988

I'm convinced. I'll have a Mattress Cooler before I head to the Caribbean this fall. Hot days are fine. Hot nights, not so much. Thanks for the reviews.

We are very impressed with the Mattress Cooler so far. Game changer for us.

[R Hutcheson]

Reporting on Bed Jet performance. I purchased a Bed Jet to use on our center cockpit ketch in the Caribbean. We have an aft master cabin, and even though we have a large hatch and several ports as well as fans, air flow is poor. In our previous season we ran the generator to power air conditioning more nights than I care to admit.

I had contacted the manufacturer and they were only able to provide a range of power consumption. We received the unit in Florida and did a couple of nights test where we were staying. We turned off the air conditioner for the night. The room did not get particularly hot, about 76 degrees. We were cold before morning and had to turn the unit down significantly. At that ambient temperature we found the air blowing across us too powerful for comfort, and the nozzle was best positioned between the upper sheet and comforter.

A word on set up. The unit works by blowing slightly cooled air through the bed, thus removing body heat and humidity. The blower will lift a single sheet completely off the bed. It does not work well this way as it then simply acts as a fan. For best results you direct the air under a tightly woven top sheet and use additional layers to weigh down the top sheet.

Moving onto the boat we set the nozzle up under the top sheet at the foot of the bed. As a test and to make an air proof layer we then laid on a shower curtain, and a blanket above that. Bed Jet sells a "Cloud Sheet" with ports for the nozzle and a tight weave to direct air flow, which I now intend to buy.

In short the system works. Temperatures here range from 85 degrees in the day to 79 degrees at night. Ambient temperature in the space according to the Bed Jet read out is 80 degrees. While it seems very strange to tuck in under covers to get cool, it does work best if everything is tucked in tight and the air is directed from your feet and out at your neck. Both nights we tested we could have slept without bed clothes and running fans, but it would not have been particularly comfortable. The Bed Jet provided a very comfortable nights sleep, and I was cold this morning.

Power use: We are running the system off a BESTEK 300W power inverter sourced from Amazon. It draws about 1 amp when plugged in. This is significantly less than running our main VE inverter for the task. The Bed Jet adds about another 3 amp draw at 12 volts. So power draw is about 4 amps per hour at 12 volts or 48 watts in an hour. Though our bank is relatively small we can handle this load with no problem.

The drawbacks: The cooling unit is quite large by boating standards, bigger than a pair of shoe boxes. So it is in the way as is the power cord, offering trip hazards and the occasional stubbed toe. It will be in the way on most boats. It is also tippy and not particularly skid resistant. Until I come up with a better solution we are setting it in the berth and padding it with pillows when underway. This would be less of a problem on a catamaran. The blower hose is 4" in diameter. It intrudes on the space around the bed, which is typically already limited on boats.

We will be keeping the unit on the boat, and likely using it most nights. I'm sure there will be some nights where it will not be sufficient and we will run the generator and the air conditioning, but I suspect they will be far fewer. This system would also pair nicely with a 12V air conditioning system if there is not sufficient battery capacity to run it all night, as a much higher setting could be used and the Bed Jet make up the comfort difference.

I first considered a Bed Jet when this thread was started, and wish I had added one immediately.

Hope this helps.

[CalmSeasQuest]

FWIW, We've had our BedJets for about 4 years now and they have performed perfectly.

[houseofcharm]

So the wife was on her 2nd Chilipad in 13 years, they seem to last 5-8 years with nightly use, when it died. Luckily, she found a nearly new top of the line Chilipad Pro at Habitat for a deal and it's the best thing available, nice low noise and a much better water distribution pad. They always get top ratings in comparos. Not inexpensive, 1100ish but she got a steal at the thrift shop.