Amana Dishwasher Noise

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.

Thanks for the answer. Currently I have a Hotpoint 3700. It only lasted

Most of the cycle times listed in Consumer Reported are over 100 minute so the Amana is typical at 115.

It's funny, but that's the reason I replaced my 33 year old GE. I tracked down what the problem was on mine, and the valve that directed the pump's output to either the spray arms or the drain wasn't working. It never drained properly, so the dirt kept being recycled around the dishes. The cause was accumulated wear on various parts, as everything was still moving the way it was supposed to, there was just a lot of leakage. The tell tale sign of what was wrong was water sitting in the bottom of the tub at the end of the cycle.

The old GE's used a single pump that directed the water either to the spray arms or to the drain. My new Amana has separate pumps for feeding the spray arms and draining the tub. I'm not sure how newer GE's work though. I suspect the cheaper GE's with the central popup spray tower might be very similar to the old ones.

I'm not sure if you are aware of this, but GE and Hotpoint are the same company. In years past, Hotpoint tended to be sold to builders, while GE was sold retail. I'm not sure how the two brands are marketed today.