Hey All,

Interested in experiences or opinions concerning replacing a dishwasher with a new, more efficient model on the market today. Energy Star ratings are a given, but I am particularly interested in how quite they operate.

Thanx Glenn

Replaced a 17 year old DW last Summer.  What a world of difference in noise level.   Most places that sell DWs will include a db (decibel)  number the lower the better.  It's not a normal number scale but logarithmically (sp?).  

If item A is rated at a 70 and item B is 80 the item B is 10 times louder that item A.

So just 1-2 decibels can make a difference.

CH

Bosch.  No question.  I installed one in our previous house after a remodel and we were stunned to find how quiet and how little soap it uses. 

When we moved into our current house we immediately replaced the working contractor's model with a Bosch.  The contractor's model (GE of course) was practically new, but required us to run it late at night with our bedroom door closed (and we still heard it, water hammer and all).  With the Bosch, we can be in the Family room, which is on the other side of the island from the dishwasher, and we don't know it's running. 

I'd be hard pressed to ever use another dishwasher again. Warranty service is good - they came out immediately to 'repair' ours when it seemed that it wasn't cleaning properly and the 'issue' was merely that we were using too much detergent.   There was no charge for the call.

Tom

Another testimonial to the quietness of operation of a Bosch dishwasher- it was impressively quiet compared to the GE that it replaced.

Check out Fisher & Paykel. That's where we ended up. They have to 2 drawer washer that is very effecient. We don't actually have it yet since we are in the design stage of building a Green home. But after our research, it's on the list.

Good Luck,
DaveS

Watch out for the two drawer models.  $$$ and not the most reliable.  I replaced a 17 year builder's grade GE with a SS Kenmore last summer.  Amazing difference in sound (or lack of  ;)  Very happy.  I also looked a Bosch and LG.  Most will have the db rating just remember that db is a linear scale and each point is a decent difference.

Be careful, some (most) of the drawer dishwashers can't handle a large (normal) plate.

We like our Bosch model SHX55M05UC. Super quiet. Dishes get nice and clean without pre-rinsing them. The energy ratings on these newer dishwashers don't disclose the insane amounts of electricity they use when the heating element comes on inside of them (e.g. on the sanitize settings). No worse than the electric element in a hot water tank, but if you've moved beyond an electric heat elements for energy reasons (we have, we live off grid), then it's just something to be aware of.

I checked the Fisher & Paykel and found there is plenty of room. And if you lay the racks down it can handle most large pots. Normal large plates are not problem. We are going with two seperate drawers verses a two drawer system.

Lowe's didn't have the two drawer dishwasher to look at and that may have a problem room as you mentioned.

Not necessarily.  The human brain does not perceive all frequencies the same, so one thing at 70 dB can be "louder" than another at 70 dB, and a given measurement of dB could be weighted for this or not.  The minimum difference in noise level a human can perceive is 3 dB.  You can't hear the difference between 50 dB and 51 dB.  Additionally, appliance noise tests are not performed the same way across all manufacturers.  A noise test which takes place in a room that is highly sound absorbing will generate completely different results than a test in a more reflective room or a dishwasher, say, resting on a tile floor in a small room with glass windows, granite counters and a marble backsplash.   Guess which one manufacturers prefer to test in?

So while the lower the number the better in general, take them with a grain of salt and as a general guide, not as any real hard and fast measurement. 

We love our energy star Kenmore Elite (2 years old) made by Whirlpool. Since dishwashers and other items in your house have many electronic components, I thought I'd mention this - if you get power surges where you are at, invest in a whole house surge suppressor. We lost the control panel in our dishwasher after 23 months, the control panel on our gas range, and a hard wired smoke detector. No problems after installing the suppressor.