Loudest and Quietest washing machines

[ingliscanada]

WP/Inglis Pump

Some early WP washers had a very loud pump. My parents' early 60s Inglis had a pump that howled, and was heard throughout the house!

Gary

 

[frigilux]

Looks like Norge takes the checkered flag from those in-the-know.

The loudest washer I've come across is a mid-1960s Coronado (which belched and snorted while agitating; groaned, squeaked, and made quite a racket while spinning). Our 1960 Kenmore model 80 was no wallflower, either. When the washer its companion dryer were both running, you had to raise your voice to be heard in the laundry room. That dryer (with its empty-every-few-months top-mounted lint bag) was hella noisy!

My new 2010 Frigidaire front-loader is very, very quiet.

 

[washerlover]

Frigilux, I believe Coronado was manufactured by Norge, so that explains the noise level. As for your 2010 Frigidaire, enjoy the quiet while it lasts, cuz they don't make machines to last anymore!!

 

[beekeyknee]

Those vomiting Norges were awful. And Kenny is right. That bangin brake.

Speed Queen solid tub - in the middle. That surging sound of that water going up and down that hose away from the pump. And that bangin' solenoid. But still a fun machine.

Properly operating Maytag Helical. Quietest. Martin's right. If the brake goes dry it will scare the daylights out of you.

 

[Jsneaker]

Coronado's were not made by Norge

Todd, Coronado's were "Franklin-type" machines, like Wizards, Bradfords, AMC's and Marquettes. I believe Zenith had wahsers and dryers like this, but never saw them here on the East Coast. I agree, nothing will last anymore, I sure hope I am alive to see our 2010 Samsung still around! God knows we paid a lot for it! Jay

 

[washerlover]

Hi Jay, Thanks for the info on the Coronado! But I could swear the Western Auto Wizard line was manufactured by Norge..?

Todd

 

[autowasherfreak]

I liked the sound of the GE FF's at the end of the spin cycle, that's when I knew it was time to go to the basement to change the load.

 

[cfz2882]

i also like the filter flo bang at end of spin to signal me to go down and switch
clothes to dryer! with the neptune,will sometimes catch a "rising UFO"sound to
signal start of spin. For coronado,i have mostly seen franklin but kinda recall
norge coronados too-might depend on year or model on who made them...

 

[gelaundry4ever]

loudest vs quietest

My mom's lg tromm washer is the quietest. My dad's GE post-filter-flo was the loudest, especially when it was brand new. It made that distinct sawing noise when agitating.

 

[Cookietaster12]

My neighbor had a Montogomery Wards/Norge/Magic Chef washer. It was one of them things. But whenever she would wash clothes, all I had to do was stand in my dining room and listen. THAT THING WAS SOO LOUD!!!! It just HOWLED and HOWLED. I could tell when it was agitating, when it was spinning, etc. That break release sounded like it was about to explode. It was a mess; however, I do miss it though. The GE FF that my dad had was very quiet. Even though the tub break scared me every time, it was still on the quiet side. The agitator was very rough, and it spashed the water every direction imaginable. I still say it was one of the quietest because you could never hear it!

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

I remember reading about a Maytag electric dryer being quieter than a Maytag gas dryer, in an issue of Consumer Reports magazine...

Wonder why? Was it the gas flowing in and burning that made the gas dryer louder?

-- Dave

 

[whirlpolf]

US washer not loud / sounds pleasant or not?

Owning just 2 American type toploaders and 3 Euro front loaders I cannot speak for the crowd. Here are my modest observations:

My GE Filter Flo was somewhat loud, now it is not anymore. I once have packet the outer tub with rubber foam/heat insulation stuff, just in order to keep that tremendous heat dropdown within reasonable limits (gas cost us a fortune over here). That has helped to do away with all cabinet vibration a lot and now my GE sounds quite "relaxed". Yet, that ugly "slurp-slurp" sound (not loud at all) keeps bugging me (resulting from the water splashing up the 3 horizontal ribs of the ramp agitator. I have always found this very disturbing if not outright ugly or "indecent".

My Kenmore Dual Action sounds better (even if WAYYYY louder), there is this no-nonsense "wait, I am currently doing my work / scrubbing those stains out" shraggada-shraggada romp romp sound that I like. This machine has not been packed yet with thermal insulation so the outer cabinet keeps humming and buzzing with this unpleasant electromagnetic grid hum (the Hertz in the motor). That is loud and unpleasant on top. Yet, I do love that serious "bvvvvvvt- CLUNK- bvvvvvtttt (sop sop sop wosh wosh) when the neutral drain changes to spin & drain and the drum is gaining speed. Louder but more fun.

Euro front loaders: Anything induction motor sounds more pleasant to me (and is quieter) than nowaday's carbon brush 6 speed options machines (so let's talk 70s backwards).
Any newer than that, they all sound more or less alike to me (90s upwards).
A nasty exception (but were it not for its spectacular visual display): Dyson Contrarotator: Fantastic wash action, ever changing tumbling patterns, almost psychedelic. But the sound of that back-of-the-drum planetary gear makes you touch your molar fillings with the tip of your tongue....
NASTY! Always a relief when that machine changes to "same speed/direction on both drum partitions".

just my 2 ct
Joe

 

[brib68]

A bit limited experience

I'm not as fortunate as some of you to have extensive memories of many classic machines, but if my memory is accurate, my Grandmother's mid-60's RCA-Whirlpool TL was remarkably quiet--just a gently undulating hum. I have no real recollection of what the spin sounded like. I think my Aunt's early 70's Kenmore was a bit louder, and maybe a little more with the splish-splash. I don't recall how loud my Mom's late 60's Westie FL was, but I never thought of either of her GE FF's as being particularly noisy. Her early/mid-90's Frigidaire (small cube) FL was a bit on the noisy side. Her current Kenmore TL isn't overly loud. The dryer buzzer, on the other hand is enough to induce a coronary!

My Maytag TL that I bought in 1998 was average-to-loud, especially compared to my LG FL. The Maytag was used in 3 houses. First it was in an unfinished laundry room off of a finished lower-level room in a new-construction townhouse. Mostly I was on the computer or ironing, so there was never a noise concern, and we couldn't hear it on the main levels. From there it moved to an unfinished basement in a 1905 Queen Anne, and it definitely couldn't be heard upstairs (sometimes to our detriment as we'd forget we had a wash going). After moving it to the basement of our first Connecticut house (1930's balloon construction duplex), we could hear it agitating if the TV wasn't on, and could hear it spin regardless. After buying the first LG (which the buyer wrote in to the deal when we moved), we could barely hear it tumble when the TV was off and could only hear the spin because the high pitch carried, even though the decibels were quite low. I have the same model, only newer in this house (1962 split level, laundry room at the foot of the stairs, which are just off the living room). With the TV on, even the spin is barely audible. With the TV off, only the sploshing of water and the spin are audible from the living room, and from anywhere else on that level, I have to stand at the top of the stairs to make sure if/which machine is running. The loudest things on that washer are the little song it sings when the cycle is done, and by far the CHUNK CHUNK when the door lock releases (which lets me know if it was the washer or dryer that sang for me!).

 

[gelaundry4ever]

Loudest washer

Now that I think about it, my GE filter-flo was the loudest out of all the washers I've had. It was a 1993 version with 2-speed combinations. More often than not, we'd use normal speed. Everything from water filling to agitation on small and the thundering spin and clanking suspension and loud clap of the brake whenever it stopped. I'd sit by it for hours on end. I'd put my ears and nose up to the machine to smell and hear what was going on inside. One time, I came home from school and my mom was doing a load of laundry in it. She was washing colors. it was set to normal speed, small, cold, and regular cottons. it was sudsy glory going on in there, and you could hear the slurping and deep splashing and smell the laundry soap. I love the thundering spin on that washer!

 

[norgeway]

Maytags ARE quiet

Mainly because they agitate so slow and gentle YES a Norge is noisy because it WASHES

 

[moonshiner180]

The center dial maytags I grew up with must have been pretty worn out, because the spin on that machine would shake the entire 2 story house! My parents got them as 60s? Models refurbed in the 80s as a wedding gift, and they gave our family probably 30 years of service before being replaced by a set of frontloaders.

My GE FF is a little loud but the spin on it is pretty calm with the new tub seal. The only thing I really had to get used to is the "clunk" at the end of spin cycles! My wife was alarmed and looked over at me as if asking "is it supposed to do that??" The first time she heard it..lol

 

[maytag85]

My Maytag A606 is pretty quiet but since it’s in a laundry room with tile the sound reverberates a little but isn’t out of this world loud and the DG306 dryer it’s paired up with is pretty quiet as well despite a couple of rattles and the only thing you can hear from the Maytag DG306 is the burner cycling on and off and those are the only things I hear from my Maytag A606 set.

 

[jons1077]

1-18’s have been my loudest machines.

Honestly, my quietest machine now is the 1964 Kenmore. After new bearings, it’s ultra quiet.

 

[cfz2882]

in 2020...

...loudest vintage:'82 SQ marathon
quietest :BD KMs
...loudest modern:'10 vmw Cabrio-(agitation loud,spin quiet)
quietest modern:'08 GE Hydrowave (agitation very quiet,spin fairly loud)