How loud are your appliances?

16 years ago

I guess there's two ways to ask this: 1) are they (to you) really quiet, noticeable, irritating, or downright obnoxious, and 2) have you checked them with a sound level meter to get an answer in decibels? I have just put in several Electrolux appliances so I am curious what others' experiences have been.

First, the stand-alone undercounter ice machine: I checked all of my appliances with a Radio Shack analog sound level meter with the weighting set to "C" (gets more low-frequency noise as I understand it). While the ice machine is pumping (running water over the cube maker) and while it's dumping ice, it's about 60 dB. Definitely noticeable, borderline irritating. The up side is that it's very fast, and once the hopper is full it is completely silent.

The all-fridge and all-freezer: When I first put these in they would read about 62 dB when both were running. The normal "hum" wasn't irritating, even at this level, but there was one rumbling tone in there that was irritating. I tried adding some sound insulation under, above, and on the sides of the two units (keeping in mind not to block airflow) and the situation improved quite a bit -- down to about 58 dB, but the vibration sound was still there. The DW was putting something in one day and touched one of the back panels and the vibration noise stopped! Turns out it's the panel that sits right over the compressor and it was vibrating. I checked the screws on it and several were loose. I tightened them and found that several others in the cabinet interior were loose too. I tightened all of them and checked again: about 54 dB with both running and no irritating loose panels.

I think I improved my situation but I know that the LGs and Samsungs are very quiet -- they claim around 42 dB but I don't know how they measured that. My floor is hard ceramic in a fairly large open room, so I know that adds to it.

I'll check the Electrolux dishwasher the next time I do dishes and let you know.

Anyone else out there concerned about noise or should I move on to bigger and better problems?

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Comments (8)

fandlil
16 years ago
Noise is a persistent issue especially in newer homes with open floor plans. We bought a top of the line Bosch dishwasher over a year ago on the recommendation of several friends. I don't know about # of dbs, but I can tell you that it is very quiet, so quiet that I can listen to the radio, talk on the phone, read, or whatever I want to do in the kitchen while the machine is on, & it doesn't interfere. It's also an energy star appliance. There have been several complaints on these forums about LG customer service being the pits. So I would stay away from them.

Another noise maker is the rangehood exhaust fan. Although some of the new ones are supposed to be much queiter, we had our rangehood motor installed remotely in the attic, so we only hear the rushing of air when it's at top speed, which we only need when we do heavy frying, which makes noise anyway so it doesn't matter.

They make quieter washers and dryers now also, but I don't know about them.
blt_in_nm
Original Author
16 years ago
I think you're right about the open floor plan -- we took out two walls to make the kitchen a larger space and it seems like everything is louder now, even the computer that was in there seems to have a lot of fan noise. I still need to get a few throw rugs in place which should help.

I've read the complaints about LG -- we have one in the break room at work and you can barely tell it's running. But if they break and you can't get it fixed it's not really an option.

I relocated our washer and dryer to a back room in the house, so I usually don't even know when it's running, which is one big improvement from the remodel.
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amirm
16 years ago
The Bosch DW took care of the noise in that department. Sadly, our Subzero is noiser than the generic brand fridge at 1/5th its cost. I am amazed that they don't talk about them being any quieter even in their latest redesign. I guess not enough people complain....
sanborn5
16 years ago
That was my DH's only wish on our Kitchen because it is open to our family room. The Jenn-air FD/SS is on the wall that backs up to our FR. And everytime we hear it go on or ice drops it reminds us it is there. So 99% of the time we hear nothing. We got the Bosch D/W. Not sure what level I would guess between the middle price and upper price, and you honestly would forget it was on if I didn't see the red light on the floor. You might hear it for seconds as it changes cycles or does something. Very happy with our choices.
glennsfc
16 years ago
Never checked mine with a sound meter. However, my Cooktek induction cooktop is louder than a desktop computer and my Samsung refrigerator almost can't be heard at all!

I really don't mind the noise from the induction cooktop, as it's only noisey when I'm cooking. And, as for the Samsung refrigerator...well, sometimes I have to check to see if it's actually working.
lascatx
16 years ago
I don't have a sound meter, but my Bosch DWs are very quiet, the Thermador fridge is virtually silent, the new Wolf oven fan is quiet, the cooktop is virtually silent and the hood -- well, it isn't silent, but the thing on high is much quieter that the old downdraft on the only speed -- and it is rarely on high. Other than the hood, the only thing we hear is the compressor on the fridge drawers, and it isn't very noticable.
janicedallas
16 years ago
I just asked the man at the appliance store if he had turned on the Kobe (it was on low speed and I could barely hear it). Of course, much louder on high. Now I will look at the Garden forum and see if it is a good fan for the $600.00. He also had a very loud alarm clock that he placed inside a dishwasher to show me the difference in noise levels. Thank goodness I found this site. I want to redo my kitchen and don't know where to start except to keep reading.
blt_in_nm
Original Author
16 years ago
I noticed the Thermador's are really quiet too. I liked the columns but it would be about $12,000 for freezer/refrig instead of my Electroluxes which were less than $3k for both. Maybe I'll have to start saving money for a future upgrade. Otherwise I really like the size and look of the E-lux.

How loud are your appliances?

Comments (8)

fandlil

blt_in_nm
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How loud are your appliances?

Comments (8)

fandlil

blt_in_nmOriginal Author

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sanborn5

glennsfc

lascatx

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blt_in_nmOriginal Author

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