Decibel Levels for Standard Dishwashers

Price

• With prices ranging from $300 for a low end model up to $1,500 for a luxury machine, a dishwasher is an appliance where loudness seems to equate almost directly with cost, or lack thereof. Cheaper units are loud and expensive units are quiet. In comparison to the 65 decibel level for a decade old dishwasher, you can expect that a newer, top-of-the-line purchase will only put out about 45 decibels of noise, making it barely noisier than a quiet library.

Decibels

• The level of decibels a dishwasher creates under full operation should be printed on the specifications tag attached to the machine. Manufacturers know that customers want quieter dishwashers, and those who have undergone the time and expense to comply want to make sure everyone knows it. If you can't find a decibel rating, that's probably not a good thing. Ask a salesperson to find out what it is. As mentioned, anything in the 60 decibel range or more might seem a bit loud in the confines of the house.

Insulation

• Since dishwasher noise is almost entirely created by the sound of the pump running and water being circulated throughout the unit, the only real solution to reducing the clatter is to include thicker, better insulation. By wrapping the tub and pump compartment with a stiff insulator like mastic, which reduces the volume of low frequency noises, a dishwasher can be quietened down to the 45 decibel range mentioned earlier. The mastic is then wrapped in a fluffy insulation to dampen the high end frequencies.

Considerations

• Advancing technology allows modern dishwashers to complete the entire cleaning cycle in less time than before, which doesn't do a thing to reduce the noise, but means that you have to listen to it for a shorter stretch of time. The bottom line is that if you want to find the quietest dishwashers on the market, you'll probably have to pay for it. Don't forget that most of these appliances have a timer switch so you can set it to operate when you're not around. Not a perfect solution but it works.