"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.