Miele or Bosch washing machine for sound sensitive family

[NotReallyNotOftenAnyway]

Hi,

I am trying to work out whether to buy a new bosch series 6 or 8 washing machine or a new miele for about a max £1500 budget.

My husband finds the noise of appliances very difficult to live with because of sensory sensitivity to white noise. We spend all our time sitting in the kitchen/dining room where we have the oven, dishwasher and washing machine bashing away all the time.

ChatGPT says the noise of a miele is "more refined" and I wondered if you might have any idea if that is right? They are roughly similar in decibels.

I have a 12 year old miele and it is definitely more quiet than my old series 2 bosch, but I know the current generation may be very different, and the bosch was not very high end.

I'd be glad to know what you think is the easiest to live with noise-wise. We're not think of buying a £3k miele but could stretch to £1500.

Thanks!

We always buy Bosch and they are quiet.

The one we have now has an annoying bleep when it finishes- three bleeps three times within the space of a few minutes then goes quiet, but if you are in the room you can switch the machine off as soon as it finishes as it has a countdown of how long the programme will take.

If you have older pipes, it might not matter.

I have a Bosch d/w and it's very quiet but b/c my house is old, the pipework is old and the noisiest thing about the d/w (and the clothes washer) is the water hammer caused by their modern valves. The machines themselves are v quiet but when they empty/fill their super efficient, modern valves snap shut and this causes air in my pipes.

My clothes washer is a Hisense and, again, it's plenty quiet (plus it's in a closet) but the water hammer effect is noticeable. It does beep quietly at the end of the cycle but just the once and I can't hear it through the closet door unless I'm standing right there. Also, it can be contolled by an app so that might be a way to silence the beeps on other machines.

The Bosch d/w does not beep but it's a basic one we bought for can £300.

edited to address beeping

My Bosch washing machine is running currently and is relatively quiet, apart from when it’s filling and emptying. The load I have on at the moment is well balanced so that is helping. If I run it empty on machine care it is practically silent. So it’s difficult to say definitely if a machine is super quiet or not because it depends a lot on what it is washing. Which is probably why people are suggesting you try and locate the machine elsewhere. You will never have no / super low noise from a machine if you are washing a load of towels, for example 🤷‍♀️

ETA wrt to the beeping , my model doesn’t beep for long and is really quite quiet. I often miss that it’s finished. Unlike my old Siemens which practically had a siren going off for about half an hour 😆

If you have the WiFi miele, you can turn it off from the app to stop the beep

I have a direct drive Haier, having had Bosch and Hotpoint in the past and it's so quiet I don't even know it's finished after the spin.
Also it's on the quiet Mark listing.
Having 10 kg or 13 kilogram sizes means it also does sleeping bags and duvets really well.
Plus they guarantee for 5 years on parts and labor and 10 years on the drive mechanism, so they really put their guarantee where it inspires confidence.
https://ao.com/l/washing_machines-haier/1-6/1/

I have the entry level Miele which replaced a 20 year old Miele when it finally died. The new one is much quieter than the old one, something to do with the 'magnetic motors'. Admittedly mine is in a utility room off the kitchen but I do keep all the doors open (habit from having a cat who had a catflap in the utility room) but I don't notice it unless the load is unbalanced and it goes all out to rebalance itself. It doesn't beep when it's finished but does a cheerful sound when you turn it off before it unlocks the door - but if you leave it to power off by itself you don't get that sound either.

I bought a Bosh one last year, when I first got it I had to keep checking it was actually running because it was so quiet.

This is all sounding very encouraging. Thank you very much.

We have a Samsung and no noise issues. Ours is in the utility room above the master bedroom. I usually run it overnight.

Best would be to see if you can visit friends/ family while their washing machine is running... I know you'll be highly aware of the noise, but it might just help in making an informed decision.

You can turn that off. The instructions should be in your manual - you usually do something like press 2 buttons together with the dial in a certain place and that brings up the settings. You can also turn off or turn down all the button press beeps. I find them useful but keep them quiet.

@PickAChew thanks I’ll have a look into that. We did look through the manual when we bought it and couldn’t see a way to switch it off, but worth another look.
It has a dial rather than beepy buttons fortunately!

I have a Miele and it is much quieter than my sister's hotpoint. But it's in a laundry room so I can't really comment on "livinng" with it.
When I bought the dishwasher I spent a long time researching db levels before I selected mine and it is definitely good. So I would say do the research on each individual machine and their decibel levels. If DH is that sensitive then maybe a couple of db will make a difference.
I'd also get one with a timer function and then try it running overnight so you unload in the morning and you don't have to hear it in the evenings.

The Bosch/Siemens washers I've had and my mum has had in the past 10 years have had both, @Crojo - Dial for the type of cycle and touch sensitive buttons for adjustments. I'm actually getting a new one delivered in the morning (old one on its last legs having cost us about 10p a wash, at this point and we can't be doing with having it completely die on us) and that's one of the first things I will look for.

my 8 year old Bosch washing machine is very quiet and doesn’t beep constantly at you. My dryer (until I figured out how to stop it) and microwave shout at me but that’s a different thread

I know you don’t want to hear about dryers but I recently replaced mine with a series 6 and it whispers compared to my old Bosch that I didn’t think was noisy at all

I’d go for a Bosch again when the washer goes

My series 6 dryer and dishwasher both do a tinkly bi-doop bi-doop which is quite tolerable. The outgoing series 4 washer had a persistent Beeeeep! BEEEEEEP! BEEEEEP! until I disabled it.

I shall report back on the 500 series Siemens washer, tomorrow!

Why you going for Siemens as a replacement and not a Bosch?

I recently bought a Bosch Serie 6 machine. Which Magazine flagged it as quiet. It’s in a utility room so I don’t hang out with it but it certainly seems quiet. It does a brief, quiet triumphant little bing bong when it’s done. My mum also recently bought a new Bosch machine, a Serie 2 model, which is much louder and was marked as a bit loud by Which magazine.

We used to have a Bosch Series 6. It used to sound like an aircraft taking off when spinning.

I have a series 6 Bosch and honestly it isn't quiet. When it goes into spin cycle it does sound like it's about to take off. Not familiar with Miele so can't comment.

Same company, different faces along with Neff. The Siemens machines have a higher spin speed, at the moment, so I figured I'd give them a whirl, so to speak. I alternate between the two for appliances depending on what looks the best at the time.

Bear in mind that a 10dB increase is experienced as twice as loud. You would definitely think 5dB is a lot louder and 3dB is noticeable.

ah ok @PickAChew i didn’t know that

yes please let us know how you get on with the washing machine tomorrow

I have both. Old house (which we still go to) has series 6 bosch machine which is about 8yrs old. When I return and do a load, I very aware of the noise of the spin cycle which seems much louder than my current Miele. Maybe because its an older machine, but its just DH and myself so wouldn't say its been bashed about with multiple loads a day etc.

Now have a Miele passion which is 3yrs old. It is in a utility, but that is just off the kitchen/dinner and there is no door in between. I barely hear it, even on the spin. I have the app on my phone and can turn the end of wash beeping off. There might be an option to mute or lower the volume but I've never looked into it. I can't say that for the price though, that the clean quality is SO much better than the bosch or any better at all TBH.

I know you don't want any info other than on the actual machines noise, so please ignore the following if you want. If you have a blue light card, Miele give 20% off full priced stock if you phone them. They also have a outlet site which is updated daily. If you narrowed down which model/s you wanted, keep an eye on the list because it might come up. The grade A and B are excellent IMO and might just have a dented box/ex display or minor scratch on the side. https://application.miele.co.uk/resources/pdf/MieleOutletPricelist.pdf

My mum lives abroad and her machine caused an adjoining wall to vibrate and make far more noise than it should have. I found rubber, noise reduction pads which her machine now sits on and it made a significant difference in the noise transfer. I can't see the exact same thing at B&Q, but as long as you ensured the machine still has good ventilation at the back, you could sit it on a noise reduction flooring, and possibly wrap the sides in the more flexible rolls of acoustic products available.

www.diy.com/departments/selitac-pro-5mm-laminate-wood-flooring-underlay-xps-acoustic-insulation-board-5m2-pack-impact-sound-reduction-22db-3057416/4002245738249_BQ.prd

Thinking of buying this one.

Bosch Series 6 WGH254A0GB i-DOS Freestanding Washing Machine, 10kg Load, 1400rpm Spin, White

I went to John Lewis the Miele screens were a bit pointy on the eyes, but the Bosch screens were okay.

I assume you've read the reviews for both models and compared? Miele does have an app, so you can start and stop the machine remotely if needed. I'm not sure about that particular bosch one though.