Washing machine/dishwasher noise

amother

Sun, May 10 2009, 4:35 pm

This is more a question for those who live in apartments. Until what time do you use washing machine/dryer/dishwasher in the evening?

I really had to get the dishes done motzei shabbat (which is after 9:40pm here) and this morning a neighbour downstairs came to ask if we can avoid using a dishwasher that late at night because of the noise.

We've lived in apartments since we got married so we know the basic stuff like not making loud noises like music, we never use vacuum cleaner after 10pm, and we tell our downstairs and nextdoor neighbours (who are non-jewish) that we'll have people till quite late at night before sedarim, sheva brochos, etc. But I never thought these types of household appliances made that much noise.

amother

Mon, May 11 2009, 4:45 am

OP here. Yes I do have sponge dish soap and a sink. But one thing I don't have is koach to wash as many as 30 complete set of dishes (for Friday night and shabbat lunch), and I really hate dried up cholent sitting overnight till Sunday morning.

I still think people are oversensitive to washer/dishwasher noises while they complain less if they hear baby crying at night or TV noises. Double standard? Or is there something that's particularly unpleasant about the dishwasher noise?

RachelEve14

Mon, May 11 2009, 5:46 am

amother wrote:

I think if your neighbor came upstairs to tell you about it then yes, it's obviously unpleasant for them. It might have to do with the vibrations on the floor, or the setup of the house or whatever, but they asked you not to do it. You asked what I would do. If my neighbor told me something was bothering them, I wouldn't do it. In fact I don't do it. Dh used to start the laundry before he left in the am, my neighbor said it distuburbs her, so I stopped. Same thing at night. We have a front loader and the cycle takes about 90 minutes. So in the summer I don't start the washing machine until Sunday morning because the noise bothers them. How long does your dishwasher run for? What if you just did a rinse cycle right after Shabbos and then ran it Sunday morning? Or if you rinsed the dishes by hand. There are disadvantages to apartment living, and this is one of them. Yes, it's pain. But my relationship with my neighbors is more important than jamming in a load of laundry Motzie Shabbot.

ss321

Mon, May 11 2009, 7:00 am

amother wrote:

re: the oversensitive part, I think it depends where you live. from what I hear, the walls in some apts are like paper thin. OTOH, in our apt building, I dont ever remember hearing much from our next-door neighbors. sometimes, if our A/c was off, and I was lying in bed, and it was totally quiet, I would hear something like a vacuum cleaner. But my opinion, is unless it is something above and beyond normal (ie blaring music from a party late at night, hammering pictures into the wall before 7am/after 9 pm ,etc) things like a dishwasher and washing machine are just part of daily life and they are gonna have to suck it up and deal with it. You shouldnt need to scrub your dishes by hand because that whirring noise is annoying. Its not a blaring rap song, and youre not banging on the walls or drilling holes that make loud noise.
I would never have asked my neighbors to "not" wash their dishes because its 10 PM! thats just part of life!! I mean - evne now in a house, our A/C is loud, and its in the backyard. Im sure, the neighbords kids playing in the backyard, dont like the annoying blare of central air, but should we just leave our A/C off all shabbos every shabbos in the summer, so that the kids dont have to have that noise? Should they tell us to uninstall the central and get room units which are considerably quieter, so that they dont hear the noise? I feel like regular household appliances are noises that come with being a neighbor, be it in a house or apartment. things like blaring music, or TVs/DVDs too loud, yelling (consistently-not I yelled at my kid and someone heard, I mean yelling for hours on end) are impolite and the volume should be kept lower at night. But sorry, you should NOT have to sit with dirty dishes till sunday morning, a dishwasher isnt THAT loud!

louche

Wed, May 20 2009, 9:18 pm

amother wrote:

I still think people are oversensitive to washer/dishwasher noises while they complain less if they hear baby crying at night

Could it be that maybe, just maybe, oh, I dunno, they're actuallly disturbed by the crying baby but are being considerate of you? what d'you expect them to do, come up and ask you politely to please stifle your baby because the noise disturbs them?

A TV you can turn down, so if you don't play yours very loud it may not be disturbing anyone. A powerful motorized appliance that sits on the floor and transmits its vibrations to the floor and walls is another story entirely. There's no volume control,for one thing, and for another, the entire floor becomes a sounding board. It can be very disturbing indeed. You might be able to get some kind of vibration-isolation or vibration-damping mounting for the machine to minimize the sounding-board effect. Check out commercial-industrial suppliers like Grainger.

nicole81

Wed, May 20 2009, 9:39 pm

My landlord lives below me and originally asked us not to run the washer after 10pm b/c of the noise. Then she changed it to 8pm because it was worse than she expected. I gladly complied for years. I think it's a reasonable request.

However, she recently had a flood in the basement and a subsequent mold problem. She refused to take care of it beyond a having a cleaning lady. For the past two months, every time I walk into the house I take a big breath of fresh.... mildew. The mold situation, coupled with a chunk of concrete that fell from my terrace (could've killed someone below!) and ongoing leaks that she never fixed, left me no choice but to call 311. In retaliation, she is terminating our tenancy as of next month.

You can bet that for the next 45 days I will be running my washer all night long. Many nights I don't go to bed until after 3am and I can assure you I will be taking advantage of this. I don't even start my loads until after 10pm now. Yes, I am a self proclaimed rhymes-with-mitch.

traveler

Wed, May 20 2009, 11:38 pm

Nicole good for you.

Some people truly hate the sound of a dishwasher. My friend rather spend hours scrubbing her dishes then listen to her dishwasher.

I love my dishwasher - and I don't think it makes that much more noise then an air conditioner. Some people are just big fat pains.

Thank g-d I have good downstairs neighbors and they hardly ever complain. When I lived in an apartment building the rule was CARPET! I just try to be respectful but to put up a load of dishes at 10pm at least I don't find that to be so unreasonable.