Just for grins I've been sound-dampening a late 80's Hotpoint dishwasher model HDA467 - 02WH using acoustic ceiling panels and carpet applied to both the space the machine occupies and the exterior of the machine, also sandwiched inside the machine door.
So far the results are good, but what I find makes a big additional difference is blocking the recessed space at the bottom in front of the access panel - just loosely laying a piece of acoustic panel across it makes a big difference. Blocking off the areas on the side of this bottom area makes even more of a difference.
However, before I make a piece to block off this bottom area, I wonder what the air circulation requirements of the motor likely are. Would blocking off this area cause it to overheat?
Just buy a new dishwasher. They are quiet and also clean the dishes much better. If you insist of spending hours re-inventing the wheel, then I'd say go ahead, block it off, the motor isn't going to overheat,
Late 80s? Compared to the new models, it is noisy, inefficient and does not clean as well. Block it off and if it burns up, get a new one and enjoy the quiet and luxury of energy saving cleanliness.
The only thing I would use is fiberglass, but it has limitations. Rug could burn. To prevent sound transmission, you need mass. Heavy like lead. Most new washers do have a fiberglass cover to help prevent reverberation. It does not help reduce sound transmission.
For sure. We had one of that vintage and it was loud and inefficient. We bought all new mid range appliances when we remodeled the kitchen. The dishwasher is barely noticeable when running and it works much better.
Funny thing, my 1st KitchenAid, 1971 model, lasted for some 17 years. And I thought that was pretty good. Each subsequent KA lasted less and less years. The last one was only 5 years old when it wasn't worth buying the parts and doing the install myself. Four years ago I built a new house with a Whirlpool. I know, KA is now WP and comes out of the same factory. But, the WP, while it has some of its own weirdnesses, is quieter and cleans better than any of the previous KA. Even if you forget to add the soap, or it doesn't open its soap door due to a stupid design interfering with the silverware, it still seems to clean the dishes! So my question to OP is, has that 80s dishwasher ever been used in the last 25 or so years?
I don't have the Brady Bunch living here but it gets used. I'm putting the effort into tinkering with it for some of the same reasons you've mentioned. The design is simple, it has mechanical controls which as I understand are more dependable and longer living than newer designs based on chips. And no LED's/LCD's to wink out. I'm skeptical of the need for various "modes" found on newer machines. This model washes for longer or shorter. I assume much of the reason for the fancier functionality is as a marketing gimmick more than any real need.
Newer machines are supposedly more efficient. I'm guessing it would take a long time to make up for the cost of a new machine before I'd realize any real savings - probably longer than the newer machine would last. I already had the acoustic panels from another project, so for the cost of some cheap carpet and adhesive I have a much quieter machine that works great. Seat of the pants I'd say it's now 60% - 80% more quiet than it was. I have to snicker - the machine actually has "sound insulated" on the front. The so-called sound insulation was a square of styrofoam sandwiched inside the door and a pathetically thin piece of fiberglass draped over the exterior.
As for assertions as to how much better newer machines clean, I'm skeptical. Once I cleaned out deposits of crud and minerals I found in various places - the door seal, under the float cup, inside the shield for the door vent, the outlet strainer, it cleans extremely well. As an experiment I had sunny side up eggs and let the dishes sit for a couple of days to let the egg get nice and enameled onto the plates. Machine chewed through it with no problem using one of these Cascade detergent packs and adding some TSP. There's probably better detergent available.
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