Sound proofing a washing machine

horsebox1977

Anybody got any experience in this area.

My next door neighbour's washing machine is pushed firmly up against our walls and it gives off a deep low vibrating noise. I can hear this from every single room in my house. It's extremely frustrating and I cant sleep at night listening to this.
On Sat it went on for 12 hours, Sunday 8 hours and last night it started at 11 and went on until approx 3.00am.

Any advice on this?

paddy147

horsebox1977 wrote: »

Anybody got any experience in this area.

My next door neighbour's washing machine is pushed firmly up against our walls and it gives off a deep low vibrating noise. I can hear this from every single room in my house. It's extremely frustrating and I cant sleep at night listening to this.
On Sat it went on for 12 hours, Sunday 8 hours and last night it started at 11 and went on until approx 3.00am.

Any advice on this?

Call into your neighbour and calmly and politely talk and disscuss the matter with him or her.

Maybe they might pull the machine out off the wall a bit,and this helps you out.

horsebox1977

Thanks Paddy,
That is the plan but I am not sure there is anything they will do.
Pretty sure the washing machine is situated in an alcove in the kitchen therefore making it the perfect place to put the machine. However this is right against our kitchen\front room, I also think that the sound waves are bouncing off the walls in the alcove and are being absorbed by our walls therefore our house is taking in the full affect of the sound and vibrations.
I'm half thinking of going out and purchasing some sound insulation but not sure what to get or where to get it.

Stoner

Well you could check that it's on a level surface, it might be rocking a little and a spanner will fix that. If it's vibrating and rocking the whole house then it's not really a sound proofing issue IMHO, it is more likely a vibration/resonance issue, that is why you can feel it in every room.
So IMHO the fix would be to stop the machine shaking, get is steady on the ground and possibly get some styrofoam between it and any wall it's touching, I would also try to have it not touching walls if possible. At least the foam would soak in some shakes.
The trick would be to get it shaking in a different way if you get me,fundamental harmonics and all that stuff, so if you can change the frequency of the shake it should stop the resonance and have a dramatic effect on the vibrations, once again all in my humble opinion.

Bruthal

Also check are the transport bolts were removed from it, otherwise they will jump all over the place if the drum with its weights are not free to move independent of the machine frame.

horsebox1977

I think is just the standard noise you would get from a washing machine (I think, I have mine in the garage). But what I may need them to do is try and insulate the sound somehow...

Solair

The noise is being transferred through the feet of the machine and onto the floor.

You can get vibration absorbing pads to stand a washing machine on.

Google around for them and you'll definitely find something suitable.

Normally they're either 4 cups that go under the machine's feet or large pads like tiles that it sits on top of.

Also, more expensive washing machines tend to be much more silent.

Cheaper machines tend to still use voltage-based speed control which means they still use brush motors. These whine a lot, particularly on the spin cycle and also make a lot more noise even at low speeds while washing.

More expensive and more modern machines usually use an AC / induction motor and a variable frequency power supply to adjust the speed. They basically have a circuit board that can change the frequency of the power going to the motor to adjust the speed.

These motors are virtually silent in operation in a washing machine.

Also, higher end machines tend to have better suspensions and also internal sound dampening pads on the inside of the case.

So, you could also try and get them to consider the noise of the machine next time they're replacing it.

ted1

Those running times seem a bit long...

Bruthal

Must be living next door to the laundrette.