spin-doctor
Well-known member
I have an older 1990 era Amana/Speed Queen heavy duty washer. Very robustly built and durable machine, a bit of a tank and sounds like it as it goes through its various cycles. This machine is located inside a very compact efficiency apartment close to an adjacent bedroom. If the washer was isolated in the basement as they normally are, I wouldn't bother with trying to attenuate the noise, but under these circumstances I thought it would be worth a whirl, pardon the pun.
When I first got the machine, right-off I noticed it had this irritating vibration/buzzing sound coming from the lower motor department. Upon further investigation, all it turned out to be was a loose plastic cover over the motor buzzing. A very simple fix was to add electrical tape between the contact points of the shield and the motor, as shown here.
More recently, I noticed during the fill cycle there was an annoying 60 Hz buzzing sound coming from the H/C water fill/mixing solenoid valve. I thought the valve was going bad, but upon further inspection, once again it was just a component buzzing against an insecure mounting point. The fill valve is mounted to a rather poorly secured sheet metal bracket which in turn is loosely connected to the washer enclosure creating a likely buzzy resonation point. So I had some extra "Frog Tape" laying around, which is this rubberized sticky tape used to seal house windows during installation. It's thin so it doesn't add too much thickness when put between mated junctions. Things still assemble properly that way without disturbing the final mounted geometry, yet you can still eliminate buzzing sounds.
Adding the frog tape to the surfaces between the valve, the mounting plate and the washer enclosure solved the valve buzz completely. As an aside, the slow filling experienced earlier (described in an earlier thread) was solved by soaking the backflow antisiphon valve (the clear/white plastic thing seen between the fill valve hose and the washer top tub output hose) in vinegar dissolving the mineral deposits inside it. Flowed a lot better after that.
After getting that done and realizing the washer's entire metal enclosure is basically a sound resonator, I decided to go ahead and add sound deadener to most of the inner surfaces to try and dampen down even more of the racket. I bought the same material used to deaden road noise inside cars, especially for people wanting to install high end audio systems for the best acoustical performance. I got the cheapest one I could find (generic Amazon brand) that still provided decent damping performance. I think it was like $50 or so to get enough to do the whole job. Not cheap, but not outrageous and probably worth it for my needs.
After completing this job and putting everything back together, it sounds a lot better. I wouldn't say it's magic though. The washer is still loud compared to modern washers, which are amazingly silent. But compared to what it sounded like before I fixed the buzzing motor shield, the buzzing water valve and then dampening the whole enclosure? It's like night and day. MUCH better and definitely acceptable even if sleeping in the next room as long as the door is shut between them. A nice white noise sound now instead of a blitzkrieging Panzer breaking through the wall.
When I first got the machine, right-off I noticed it had this irritating vibration/buzzing sound coming from the lower motor department. Upon further investigation, all it turned out to be was a loose plastic cover over the motor buzzing. A very simple fix was to add electrical tape between the contact points of the shield and the motor, as shown here.
More recently, I noticed during the fill cycle there was an annoying 60 Hz buzzing sound coming from the H/C water fill/mixing solenoid valve. I thought the valve was going bad, but upon further inspection, once again it was just a component buzzing against an insecure mounting point. The fill valve is mounted to a rather poorly secured sheet metal bracket which in turn is loosely connected to the washer enclosure creating a likely buzzy resonation point. So I had some extra "Frog Tape" laying around, which is this rubberized sticky tape used to seal house windows during installation. It's thin so it doesn't add too much thickness when put between mated junctions. Things still assemble properly that way without disturbing the final mounted geometry, yet you can still eliminate buzzing sounds.
Adding the frog tape to the surfaces between the valve, the mounting plate and the washer enclosure solved the valve buzz completely. As an aside, the slow filling experienced earlier (described in an earlier thread) was solved by soaking the backflow antisiphon valve (the clear/white plastic thing seen between the fill valve hose and the washer top tub output hose) in vinegar dissolving the mineral deposits inside it. Flowed a lot better after that.
After getting that done and realizing the washer's entire metal enclosure is basically a sound resonator, I decided to go ahead and add sound deadener to most of the inner surfaces to try and dampen down even more of the racket. I bought the same material used to deaden road noise inside cars, especially for people wanting to install high end audio systems for the best acoustical performance. I got the cheapest one I could find (generic Amazon brand) that still provided decent damping performance. I think it was like $50 or so to get enough to do the whole job. Not cheap, but not outrageous and probably worth it for my needs.
After completing this job and putting everything back together, it sounds a lot better. I wouldn't say it's magic though. The washer is still loud compared to modern washers, which are amazingly silent. But compared to what it sounded like before I fixed the buzzing motor shield, the buzzing water valve and then dampening the whole enclosure? It's like night and day. MUCH better and definitely acceptable even if sleeping in the next room as long as the door is shut between them. A nice white noise sound now instead of a blitzkrieging Panzer breaking through the wall.
