From: Gerome Kalbasov 
Newsgroups: rec.food.equipment alt.home.repair misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: Amana Dishwasher Noise
Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 22:30:56 GMT

wff_ng_7 wrote:
> "Andrew Jahns"  wrote:
>> Dishwasher noise is one of the major features in selecting a dishwasher.
>> Amana dishwashers are highly rated, inexpensive but give no noise
>> numbers. I emailed Amana and got the following answer.
>>
>> > The decibel rating is...
>> > ADB1500AW-55 Db
>> > ADB2500AW-52 Db
>> > ADB3500AW-55 Db
>>
>> These Amana decibel numbers are very good in comparison. If they are
>> correct, the Amana is a good deal quieter than the average Kenmore (59
>> dB), and as quiet as the lower end Bosch (53 dB) for quite a bit less 
>> money.
>>
>> Can anyone give any backup to these Amana dB noise number either through
>> personal experience or otherwise?
> 
> I've got the "1500" model mentioned. It is dramatically quieter than the 
> dishwasher it replaced, a 33 year old GE model. But it's somewhat 
> surprising the ways in which it is quieter. The two most annoying times 
> on the old GE were the water fill and drain periods. Those are 
> dramatically quieter on the new Amana. But the reason those things are 
> quieter is pretty obvious. The fill and drain are so much slower on the 
> Amana, so you don't hear this noise of the rush of water flowing through 
> the piping, or draining through the garbage disposal. The washing itself 
> is also much quieter, but that wasn't the most annoying part of the 
> cycle for me. My sister has a new high end Kitchenaid bought at about 
> the same time (spring 2006). Hers is a bit quieter than my Amana, but 
> it's not a big difference.
> 
> One thing both my sister and I noted is the newer dishwashers take A LOT 
> LONGER to complete a cycle than the dishwashers both of us replaced. So 
> though the noise might be a lot less, it lasts a lot longer! ;-) The 
> total cycle time (including dry) on my ancient GE was about 1 hour. On 
> my new Amana, it is about 2 hours. My sister's new Kitchenaid also takes 
> about 2 hours.
> 
> I did the installation of mine myself. Reading the installation 
> instructions, it becomes obvious where a lot of the noise reduction 
> comes from. It is critical that the side seals that attach the 
> dishwasher to the cabinets on either side, as well as the kick panel 
> beneath are installed properly, as they keep the noise from coming out 
> into the kitchen. The different Amana models come with different sealing 
> methods in the kick panel area. If the seals are not installed 
> correctly, the quoted noise levels will not be achieved.
> 
Most of the cycle times listed in Consumer Reported are over 100 minute 
so the Amana is typical at 115.