iMac fan always running?

Ended up talking to Apple Support who confirmed that the iMac fan noise should not be detectable - when the iMac is effectively idle. Ran through all the checks over the phone with Apple Support and no hardware issues detected. So upon their advice took the iMac into local Apple Store, who assured me that their engineers would check it out and be able to listen to the fan in a silent repair room. 🙂 The Apple engineer subsequently phoned me at home, saying he had reinstalled the software, ran through the standard checks etc - but again had found no issues. He did admit though that he couldn't hear the iMac fan "over the sound of their air conditioning system" - so it must be alright anyway, right? 😢

Yep, not a problem in an office environment but a big problem in a quiet room! Slightly running just above nominal speed I reckon (consistently from start-up) - so I can even hear that "air rush" now when I'm playing iTunes music over the internal speakers. So six weeks old iMac and I think I've run out of options now??? Do some people really have almost silent iMacs?

Thanks for replying & the info about the fan. Activity Monitor doesn't reveal any problems and I'm pretty sure my fan is running at a nominal speed, in fact it doesn't seem to change speed no matter how many apps I'm running. Does nominal idle speed = almost silent for most iMac users though?

Thanks for responding. I'll attempt the SMC test 2-3 times again then and I didn't do the PRAM reset initially. If successful, I'll let you know. Actually the fan noise isn't that great, so I'm reluctant to send my iMac in for repair that might make no difference. (And If all iMac users have a constant "slight" fan noise, it wouldn't bother me. But many have totally silent iMacs, right?) Anyway, thanks again for responding.

Thanks for your reply CountryGirl56.

This is my first iMac, but from your experience would you say that it's quite normal/expected/standard to hear 'some' rush of air from an iMacs rear vent - straight from log-in and when you're sat about 3ft away from the screen?

An admittedly gentle yet constant rush of air, no matter if I have many or no apps running.

Thanks for replying PeterBreis0807.

Thing is they've run through the technical checks at my local Apple Store and insist "technically" nothing is wrong. And in the Apple Store they admit they can't replicate a "quiet room environment" - so I can't physically demonstrate the issue.

I've now tried capturing the fan noise on video again using my iPhone 6. Hardly brilliant quality, but currently searching for a method to send a copy to Apple Support. 😕

Thanks for all the info. I think I'll end up accepting now that it's "not very loud".