wff_ng_7 wrote:
"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.

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