To minimize washer/dryer vibration upstairs, do I need a top-loader?

January 17, 2024 4:42 PM

To minimize washer/dryer vibration in an upstairs laundry installation, do I need a top-loader?

I currently live in a 100+ year old home where the laundry is on the second floor. When I moved in, the laundry machine was a washer/dryer combo (i.e. one machine, two functions). It shook when it operated, and the shaking traveled through the floor in a most alarming way. For example, my place is a duplex, and the neighbors mentioned at one point that their place shook when I did laundry. The laundry is NOT on a shared wall.

Anyway, an appliance repair person told me that the unit was going bad, that combo units are bad in general, and that I should just get a new set of laundry machines. As combo machines are ventless, I had to have a proper vent put in, which I have done.

So now it's time to shop for a washer/dryer, and my number one concern is vibration. I am traumatized (I mean, not really. But maybe a little?) by the way the old machine used to shake the house. I know that any machine will shake less than my old one. But I also don't think this is the most solidly built house in the world?

I've heard that top-loaders vibrate less than front-loaders. I've also heard the opposite, though that doesn't sound right to me. Do you have an upstairs laundry installation? I am looking for personal experience with any of this that might steer me in the right direction. Thanks.

Added details: I only have room for stacked machines, so if I get a top-loader, it will have to be a "laundry center." There are only a few models of these out there and the reviews are so-so. That said, if it doesn't make my home shake while it operates, it will probably be OK with me.

posted by toomuchkatherine to Home & Garden (13 answers total)

i used to have an old top loader and whenever it was unbalanced it shook a lot.

i now have a miele w1 front loader and it vibrates far less than an unbalanced top loader, even though it spins faster than my old machine. for what it's worth, i've never had to rebalance a load in it.

note: the miele has a smaller capacity than a normal top loader so this may contribute to its lack of shaking.
posted by zippy at 4:59 PM on January 17

No. I've had front loaders all my life (Miele, Siemens, Beko, Bosch). They only vibrate noticeably when they were unbalanced. In an old house, chances are the floors are uneven. You need to use a level to make sure all sides are balanced. If that's still not enough (maybe because your washer is old or low quality), a rubber mat can help.
posted by toucan at 5:05 PM on January 17 [2 favorites]

We currently have an upstairs, stacked, front loader situation. The washer is in a tray on the floor and there is a thin rubber mat between the two units (they aren’t secured to each other like in a laundry center, just stacked). I’ve not noticed any appreciable shaking while either unit is in use. But like others have said, whatever you choose front or top loader, I think the key is ensuring the units are balanced appropriately, and that neither is overloaded.

I generally do smaller loads anyway, (not necessarily to minimize noise, but to keep up with folding!), and also prefer to line dry - which If you have the space and air is not too humid, line drying is also great and essentially motion/soundless.
posted by subwaytiles at 5:38 PM on January 17

Our one year old top loader is very loud. The front loader we had previously was quiet. I'll never get a top loader again.
posted by anadem at 6:06 PM on January 17 [1 favorite]

I had both my front loader washer and dryer upstairs in an 1892 house. You cut down the vibration by having large rubber mats beneath each machine and make sure the installer balances the machines correctly on installation. If you have the height, then make sure that your machines are on platforms so that you have more storage and don't have to lean over to grab your laundry. Also, make sure the doors open so that it is easy to move laundry from washer to dryer in one move.

I loved having my laundry area closer to where laundry was generated.
posted by jadepearl at 6:26 PM on January 17

if you have a level, or a level app on your phone, you can check whether the current machine is level.

if it's not, like people have said above, that's going to increase the noise and vibration when it spins.

but good news, it's an easy fix! diy even.

the feet under the front edge are generally adjustable - turning them makes them longer or shorter - and turning them you can level the machine yourself. have a second person tilt the unit back slightly to take weight off the front feet and you should be able to turn them with your fingers or a wrench.
posted by zippy at 6:57 PM on January 17

Our house was built in 1910 and the floors are quite uneven. The Samsung washer and dryer that came with the house didn't vibrate much but the dryer had a disturbing amount of drum noise that resonated throughout the 3 levels of the house. They were stacked, but not really (ratchet strap was the only thing holding them together in a small closet) and we replaced with an LG washtower, which is technically a separate washer and dryer that share a control board.

Pros: dryer vibration is almost non-existent - you can hear a bit of vibration on the second floor but it is very minimal; the loudest sounds come from the washer when it fills and drains. Overall it makes less noise/reverberation of sounds than the refrigerator and heat pump. I think the dryer vibration could be reduced with a rubber mat underneath (ours is sitting in a plastic drip tray that came with the house). I am not sure what could be done to reduce the sound of the water coming on, though. Having all buttons/controls in the middle of the unit is great (vs having the dryer controls up high with traditional stacked laundry). The unit is less deep than the washer/dryer it replaced, and even if it is not much smaller, dimension-wise, it takes up less visual space in its little alcove. We keep a laundry basket and detergent on top of the unit, and have some magnetic shelves that hold cleaning supplies on the sides, and they do not move or shake at all.

Cons: most of the modes/settings require you to use the smartphone app, AND the washer wifi has been a pain. It's been very reliable for the past 6 months, but there was a period where getting the washer portion to communicate with the app required going into the basement and flipping the breaker on/off. You are at the mercy of the app and whatever updates LG releases for the unit.

Would I buy it again? Yes.

Regardless of laundry type, i think proper leveling and a vibration-reducing mat would be the most important in an old house.

(That said, if you happen to have shorthaired dogs, Samsung has an absolutely fantastic u-shaped lint trap design that catches everything whereas every other dryer I have used has a flat lint trap that shoots Great Dane hairs straight out of the ducting and onto the side porch. Even though the Samsung we replaced was so loud despite not being more than 5-7 years old, I would absolutely consider Samsung for the lint trap design alone.)
posted by ortoLANparty at 7:08 PM on January 17 [1 favorite]

If properly leveled and the shipping bolts that hold the suspension in place are removed, a front loader will not vibrate an objectionable amount even if the floor is terrible.
posted by wierdo at 8:55 PM on January 17 [1 favorite]

+1 for Miele, based on visiting my sister and sleeping directly below one. But you will definitely have to get used to smaller loads run more frequently.

We have an LG combo unit in our basement and I have described its problems with resonant frequencies before. It doesn't make much noise once it's up to speed, but the process of getting up to speed involves lots of speeding up and slowing down, and every time it passes through whatever the resonant frequency of the thing is, it makes a whole lot of loud whumping noises. I would not recommend it for an upstairs installation.
posted by fedward at 8:58 PM on January 17

I had an old front-loading machine that was directly above the kitchen in my 130-year-old house. When it was doing its spin cycle it would send these pressure waves through the kitchen ceiling that felt distinctly uncomfortable in this weird, brain-deadening, Havana Syndrome kind of way.

We replaced it last week with a new front-loader and that has completely gone. We bought it partially because it has a "silent drive" cycle - we've never felt the need to use it.

I've never had a top-loading machine but I'm willing to bet that any decent new machine, optionally with a vibration-killing mat underneath, would fix your problems.
posted by dudekiller at 11:28 PM on January 17 [1 favorite]

Better front loaders (Miele, etc) are smart enough to avoid the resonant frequency of the tub+clothes when they spin up/down. They'll slowly start the spin until the tub starts to wobble then they'll throw a burst of power and quickly accelerate past the resonance then spin up gradually with the rest of the program. It's pretty damn cool to watch it happen. And if the load can't be balanced, the machine detects it quickly, stops the spin, adjusts the load and tries again. We've never had our machine go womp-womp-womp-womp-womp-etc (it'll get to about the third womp and retry).
posted by seanmpuckett at 7:34 AM on January 18

I've had a couple of top loaders and a couple of front loaders. The top loaders shook very violently when there was an imbalanced load. The front loaders don't shake as much, and can self-correct to some extent by letting the heavy load redistribute itself using gravity, which I don't think top loaders can do at all.
posted by adamrice at 9:05 AM on January 18 [2 favorites]

Much newer house here, 1980s, and very solidly build. Second floor laundry.

The entire house shook with our front loader, all the time, every load. It wasn't traumatizing, but if the house were older, it would have been. It was definitely Too Much Shaking For This House.

That washing machine was new about 15 years ago, a major brand and highly rated by Consumer Reports at the time, although I don't remember the brand. (The point being that it wasn't just shaking the house too much because it was crappy. And, it didn't make the whole house shake in its previous first-floor location.)

We're on our second top loader now, and the house no longer shakes. It's such a relief. I will be very surprised if anything can convince me to get a front-loader in this house ever again. (Previous was Speed Queen, current is LG.) Good luck!
posted by orange (sherbet) rabbit at 11:27 AM on January 20