Noctua pitches its PC fans as home heating boosters — active fans beat natural convection

Noctua appears to be attempting to break out of its PC DIY niche with a recently penned blog post about efficient home heating. In an article dubbed What is active radiator ventilation and why you should consider it? the Austrian thermal specialist claims that dotting its fans around your home (mostly on or around heat sources) is “a win-win for you and the environment.” As it isn’t April 1, the idea is worth a closer look, but the images it shares in the blog make us pine for the long-delayed chromax.white fan series.

Heating a home through winter is expensive. Moreover, much of Europe got used to cheap Russian gas in the years leading up to the Ukraine war. The onset of that war would have fast yet significant impacts on fossil fuel pricing, particularly gas used to heat homes and fire power stations. Fuel price pain has meant homeowners are turning down the thermostat a little more and/or seeking heating efficiencies from tech like heat pumps, better insulation, and other measures.

Noctua thinks that with the increase in popularity of heat pumps, which deliver water at generally lower temperatures, active convection has a more prominent role to play. It explains that radiators running at cooler temperatures can warm up a room more quickly with the help of active ventilation (like fans). The heat source powering your radiators will also “work less to maintain desired temperatures, cycling less frequently or at lower intensity,” it says.

Active fans are a solution to common problems in modern, well-insulated homes. Fans pushing air can help minimize areas with poor airflow, which might be prone to cold spots, stagnant air, moisture buildup, or mold growth. Conversely, active ventilation is touted in old homes as a compensator for heat loss through windows and poorly insulated walls.

Naturally, Noctua touts its fans as a high-quality, quiet solution to your home heating efficiency problems. “For a typical radiator setup using 2-3 fans, the cost ranges from €50 to €105, depending on the model,” it says. Adding gaskets, fan controllers, cabling, and power could up the cost per radiator to nearly €200 ($208), though, it admits.

To convince readers to invest in Noctua fans and accessories, the firm touts “an estimated 5-10% reduction in heating costs” from adding active fans to home heaters. Depending on the scale of your current heating bill, this could mean a pretty quick payback of the initial investment—if Noctua’s figures are accurate.

As mentioned in the intro, though, Noctua’s difficulties in developing white fans to which it is willing to put its name may hinder its acceptance throughout the home. Even if they blended into the décor a bit more, some would consider brown or black PC fans dotted around the house to look like electronic clutter, incongruous, or messy.

This home heating efficiency post from Noctua appears to have been inspired by a scientific research paper on forced convection published last year.