Heater fan noise

I own a 2018 Nissan leaf with a heat pump for Heater. I understand that when the temperature is low enough the resistive Heater auxiliary turns on. I noticed that when the temperature is below 25° I hear an intermittent noise from what I assume is the resistive heater fan. It is fairly loud and comes on and off as needed. The service department person at Nissan tells me this is normal. I would like to know if either 2018 Nissan leaf owners with the heat pump experience the same noise.

I don't think the resistance heater has its own fan. Also, it does run at higher temps as well, to warm the cabin faster. You may be hearing the coolant pumps running.

The noise is a buzzing sound and only occurs when the temperature gets below around 25° and when the car is cold. It is definitely related to the temperature differential between the car on the inside and the temperature outside. When the temperature is really cold like below 20° the buzzing sound is there but not nearly as loud. It may not be the fan but I am wondering if it is normal. I would like to know if Other 2018 leaf owners have heard this.

Without hearing it, it's hard to know.

Can you put up a video or audio file of it? You can upload videos for free to places like YouTube and Vimeo. I've uploaded a bunch to the former myself.

I tried to record the sound on my phone in order to let the dealer hear it. Unfortunately it was difficult to get anything you could hear on the phone. Another problem is the car has to be moving before you get the loudest noise and the road noise can interfere. I will try again and will post something If I am successful.

The electric climate control does make a fair amount of noise - especially the heatpump version. It often sounds like a quiet ICE idling.

Thanks for your post. It’s good to know that this is a function of the car rather than something that is wrong with my car

To clarify, I assume this noise is not the fan itself, which sounds like any other climate control fan. We're just talking about the hybrid heat pump here.

It's more of a low buzzing / growling sound that increases in pitch / volume when it starts up with a large cabin vs outside temperature differential. The volume / pitch depends on the load needed to generate heated / cooled air. The sound usually becomes intermittent or disappears once the cabin reaches the set temperature...and you leave it at that temperature.

You are right. That is exactly the sound I am talking about, and I assumed it was the fan. From what you say I assume this is normal for the 2018 leaves with the hybrid heating system.