Dishwashers

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Dishwashers tend to be very loud machines.

My wife has been watching too many home improvement shows. She decided that we should do a kitchen remodel. Well in the days of COVID, this took a lot longer than normal. A full year. The last item in the remodel was the dishwasher. Our old dishwasher was a Maytag that I bought 15 years ago. It broke a few times but because of the design I was able to repair it and keep it going. But it was nearing its end of life.

So we bought a brand new state-of-the-art dishwasher. We installed it a few days ago and now the remodel is complete. So last night my wife loaded up the dishwasher and ran it for the first time. She said "come here quick". She said the dishwasher is not working. I came and scratched my head a few times. The new dishwasher is quiet. It is rated 44 dBA. So the first thing I did was turn off a circulating fan that was running so I could hear the dishwasher. I then powered the unit off and then powered it back on and pushed the sequence of buttons that should make it start. And I listened intently. After about a minute I heard a faint hum. I told my wife it is working but it is very, very quiet.

Two hours later I tried to figure out if it was done. There were no sounds. I opened the door and a blast of steam fogged up my glasses. It had 17 more minutes to go. So not only can you not tell when it starts, you can't tell when it ends. But there is a small light reflected on the floor that I believe is the indicator.

So you go from one extreme of a noisy dishwasher to the opposite extreme of a quiet dishwasher.

That seems like a poorly thought out design on the part of the designers. While quiet devices are nice, it's disconcerting when they're so quiet that you aren't certain they are working.

When I first replaced my old car with a newer one, it took me a while to get used to how much quieter it was. I would turn it on and without thinking about it space out for a minute, when I came back to reality I would automatically go to turn the car on (again) because it barely registered with my brain that it was already running.

On that train of thought there have been issues with electric and hybrid cars that were too quiet on the road, hitting pedestrians and animals.

I think sometimes engineers/designers get so focused on making something the quietest, fastest, lightest, etc, that they lose sight of the issues those things can create. I supposed 'tunnel vision' is the term I'm thinking of.

*Clearly my ADHD meds haven't kicked in yet....I may be rambling *

I live in a rural area. One of the dangers in driving at night is collisions with deer. I often roll down my window in fall and winter and turn up the volume on my radio as I drive the back roads, in order to alert the deer of my presence.

When we had to buy a new dishwasher a couple of years ago, and didn't have much money to spend on it, Mr. B went to Home Depot and after looking around, he was told there were specials on floor models, etc. over in a back corner. He bought a $1000 Bosch dishwasher for under $300. It is very quiet like you described, Jimmy. I love it. But it is true I can't tell when it is on.

On the other hand, when we needed to buy a refrigerator right away the best thing we could afford was pretty cheap and it is so noisy we sometimes think a tree is falling on the house, or a fighter jet is trying to land in our yard.

You win some, you lose some.

There are some on the market that are super quiet.
I went to a party at my wealthy cousins house a few years ago,
which went all night.

The next day I helped clean up, by filling the dishwasher etc.
I was marvelled at how silent the dishwasher was

It was a Miele brand dish washer, don't think it was cheap though.
But it was pretty quiet if not silent.

Interestingly enough, my cousin, who is very bright and works as a freelance
risk assessment officer in merchant banks.

She also has an autistic streak in her, in that she is highly irritated by the sound of
washing machines, dish washers etc.

Lucky for her, her anxiety isn't that severe and has been able to sustain her self in employment
all her life, and as she has a high IQ (is very pretty) and very easy going, she is highly employable,
and has escalated up the corporate ladder, to a decent waged job.

So she can afford silent Miele dish washers.
Sadly, the people who need such expensive appliances are people like myself, who can not afford
such expensive appliances. I mean, i can't really afford a normal dish washer let alone a super quiet one....
doh..

I wish someone would invent a silent vacuum cleaner.

I wouldn’t mind one of those but I’m not sure how well it would navigate in my house.I’m definitely not a minimalist and have lots of potted plants and other objects sitting around.Not sure if it would go under the couch.The dog hair seems to accumulate around these objects and under furniture.I use the vacuum tools to get the hair.