Quieting a dishwasher

May 10, 2004 6 Replies

I have a Kenmoore Elite dishwasher (supposedly quiet) in my kitchen island. It is still very loud (the kitchen is near the living room so TV must be cranked to hear). Is there any way to dampen the sound? There is not much room around the dishwasher to put anything...



Fancier dishwasher? My ex just installed one. Standing in the kitchen, the dishwasher sounds like it's in the basement. Amazing. I believe the major manufacturers include noise level comparisons in their promo literature & web sites now. And, Consumer Reports definitely focuses on it.

Furniture pad over the thing while it's running? Run it later when nobody's watching TV?

Hate to be discouraging, but I think you are screwed. We bought a supposedly quiet washer several years ago and the same thing happened to us. It might well be the quality of your cabinet, the heavier the construction, the quieter the dishwasher will be. New washers are often larger than older ones so there is less space to add insulation between the washer and the cabinet. If you don't mind the expense, you could probably fit lead blanket insulation over the top, back, and sides of the washer; thin, but effective because of the density. Fiberglass and other light stuff will have essentially no noise reduction effect. You will need to, at least partially, move the washer out of the cabinet to fit the blanket. We just decided to live with the noise and wash at times that wouldn't bother nearby activities.

It might be the hose vibrating against the cabinet and not the dishwasher itself. If the hose goes thru a hole in the cabinet stuff rags tight in there against the hose to see if that helps. If it is the dishwasher itself you are probably out of luck. I tried fiberglass once and it did not help at all. Basically if they used a noisy motor and pump you are screwed. If it is new, call Sears and tell them to take it back. That is the good thing about buying at Sears... they guaraantee satisfaction.

We turn our quite old dishwasher on just before we go to bed and are usually asleep before the dishwasher finishes it's job. Des

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