Heat pump sounds

[RIV206]

First winter in my Gen2. Before I send a ticket to service, I wanted to ask fellow Gen2 owners if this heat pump sound is normal? Seems only to happen when temp set above 75/76. Obvi my old Gen1 was not like this. Thanks!

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[BTOR]

First winter in my Gen2. Before I send a ticket to service, I wanted to ask fellow Gen2 owners if this heat pump sound is normal? Seems only to happen when temp set above 75/76. Obvi my old Gen1 was not like this. Thanks!

When my 2025 is on high, it's. loud. I would say similar to your cabin video/audio file. My steering wheel also picks up vibration from the HP and can be felt. So I would say it is comparable to your recording inside the cabin. Whether that is normal for 2025/2026 HVAC units, we'll have to see how others reply. I have never exited the cabin and listened to it externally so I can't comment on that particular noise level. When I'm charging the battery in the garage during the summer on very hot days, the HP will come on to help regulate the battery temp for optimal charging. It is loud then. The sound is a "whirling swoosh" which I assume is the compressor. Your external noise sounds more like a "whirling buzz/vibration". So a little different.

My main concern is if I decided to sleep in it and control the cabin temp would it be loud and keep me awake? Otherwise, I don't use the heat much. I just use the butt and steering wheel heaters. The few times the HVAC has become loud, I just turned up my music. Led Zeppelin and Rush will pretty much drown out any annoying noise or rattle.

 

[RIV206]

Interesting. Our R1T isn't nearly as loud as our R1S but still much louder than the old Gen1 so maybe it's just the design or certain units decided to be louder than others . I've def tried the music thing as well and it works!

 

[BTOR]

Interesting. Our R1T isn't nearly as loud as our R1S but still much louder than the old Gen1 so maybe it's just the design or certain units decided to be louder than others . I've def tried the music thing as well and it works!

I have to run errands today. I'll play around with it a bit. I'll post any interesting findings. Depending on which song is queued, a volume setting >13 usually does it ha ha ha.

 

[smiffaz]

Curious what others think as well.

My '26 Gen2 R1S sounds similar, but maybe not quite that loud? The hum step up/down seems to happen when I change temperatures or fan speeds.

Will be my first winter with a Rivian, so still learning what's normal....

 

[BTOR]

Interesting. Our R1T isn't nearly as loud as our R1S but still much louder than the old Gen1 so maybe it's just the design or certain units decided to be louder than others . I've def tried the music thing as well and it works!

Okay, you sparked my interest.....

I turned on the HVAC from my phone. The temp SP was 73 deg. After the vehicle woke up it said the cabin temp was 48 deg. Here are 3 videos.

1) External: immediately after it came on (IMG_5127). Pretty loud. I would say similar to yours.
2) Cabin. I turned temp down to 70 deg. from 73 but it did not make any difference in output velocity of air or in the noise level. No steering wheel vibration . It was just the sound of blowing air through vents. I would say this sounded very normal to any vehicle I've owned over the years.
3) 2nd external. Seemed a bit quieter than the initial "turn-on" video. I would say it was running more in a "steady state" mode at this point and had found a "happy place". The vibration buzz noise seemed to be gone.

I would say the noise level of your vehicle is well within the "normal" distribution for these units. If I recall correctly, I did read somewhere that Rivian did make some type of change to the HVAC (Heat Pump) between Gen 1 & Gen 2. I don't recall what that change was however. Maybe another member will.

 

[Jeff M]

For the price of the vehicle, I didn’t expect the noise from the pump to be so loud. I wasn’t sure what system was being supported, air suspension or HVAC. But mine is loud too.

 

[BTOR]

For the price of the vehicle, I didn’t expect the noise from the pump to be so loud. I wasn’t sure what system was being supported, air suspension or HVAC. But mine is loud too.

I’ve owned mine for over 1 year. I agree, you would think it would be less noticeable but having said that, It’s never bothered me. And, for what it’s worth, this is the first vehicle I’ve ever owned that didn’t have some sort of cabin rattle or squeak. We’ve owned several vehicles that would fall in the luxury cat. and they all made some noise that totally annoyed me. I’ll take the HP whirl over a rattle or squeak any day.

 

[Motoarzon]

Normal. And it gets louder as it gets colder too. I got my Gen 2 in Canada last February and experienced a couple -20C days. It screams!! (And that's "after" various software updates that made it quieter). Someone at Rivian in a position of authority signed off on this saying "good enough". They should have been fired but wasn't. You'll have to live with this about 3 months of the year.

 

[RIV206]

Normal. And it gets louder as it gets colder too. I got my Gen 2 in Canada last February and experienced a couple -20C days. It screams!! (And that's "after" various software updates that made it quieter). Someone at Rivian in a position of authority signed off on this saying "good enough". They should have been fired but wasn't. You'll have to live with this about 3 months of the year.

That’s crazy. Today I had someone walk by and ask what was wrong with my car.

 

[portdirect]

That’s crazy. Today I had someone walk by and ask what was wrong with my car.

I’ve had that a couple of times if you think winter is bad, just be thankful you don’t get both ends of the weather spectrum - it’s even louder when trying to dump heat in a high humidity environment (though a less annoying pitch).

Video a neighbor took this summer when they were worried my battery may be about to ‘catch fire’, as they could hear it from the other side of the street:

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