Best Quiet Garbage Disposals

Grind Your Food Waste Quietly

Does your old garbage disposal make much noise? And are you tired of your loud garbage disposal disrupting the quiet in your home or only looking for modern disposal that will complement the atmosphere in your kitchen? Then this article will help you make an informed choice.

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Quiet garbage disposals should feature a metal mount and insulation to minimize vibrations.

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Top 5 Quietest Garbage Disposals

#1 | Moen GXS75C GX Series

Best garbage disposal with permanent magnet motor

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#2 | InSinkErator Evolution Septic Assit

Best garbage disposal for septic systems

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#3 | InSinkErator Evolution Excel

Best 1HP & quiet garbage disposal

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#4 | Moen GX50C Prep Series

Best 1/2HP quiet garbage disposal

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#5 | InSinkErator Cover Control Plus Evolution

Best batched feed garbage disposal

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What makes a garbage disposal quiet?

A typical consumer complaint about their garbage disposals is that the machine makes much noise during use. On average, garbage disposal makes 80 dB of noise when it grinds up your food scraps, which is less noise than a food blender.

The noise complaint is common because noise levels are often forgotten or deemed unnecessary due to a lack of information on it during the research phase of buying a food waste disposer. However, many users find this characteristic (noise level) extremely important once the machine is installed and used.

So, suppose you are someone that gets annoyed by noisy kitchen appliances or even woken up by your children or partner turning on something like a vacuum cleaner or blender in the mornings. In that case, we recommend purchasing a sound-proof garbage disposal.

Why is it that some disposals are noisier than others? The primary source of avoidable noise that disposal produces are vibrations. There are serval characteristics of garbage disposal that contribute to the noise level that it makes while in use, these include:

• mount material
• build quality
• insulation technology
• continuous vs batched feed
• and the power of the motor.

Watch video on Youtube: InSinkErator Garbage Disposal Myths – It’s Loud

When sound is a concern, consider a waste disposal with sound seal technology.

Mount material

During research for one of our blog posts (Waste King vs. InSinkErator), we found that the mount’s material, attaching the disposal to your sink, also affects the amount of noise produced due to vibrations.

If the quietness of garbage disposal is a deciding factor for you, we strongly recommend disposal with a metal 3-bolt mounting system and NOT one with a plastic EZ mount. The metal mount is much more solid and durable, which allows for fewer vibrations and, therefore, less noise.

However, it is also essential that the disposal be adequately installed, as installation can also cause extra vibrations.

Although build quality and the mount’s material are essential factors in the amount of noise your disposal makes, there are also other accessories for garbage disposals, besides an EZ mount, which may help muffle the noise, such as a sink baffle.

Watch video on Youtube: InSinkErator garbage disposal with Anti Vibration

Build quality

The build material used to construct the disposal body and motor plays an essential role in how much noise disposal makes. High-quality materials tend to be sturdier and will therefore vibrate less than flimsy poor-quality plastics.

Therefore, if you want quiet disposal, we recommend investing a little more in higher-end disposals, such as those in the InSinkErator’s Evolution line, mostly made of metal instead of plastic.

Check Best Garbage Disposal Home

Insulation technology

Whether your disposal features insulation technology or not has a massive influence on how much noise the disposal produces. Manufacturers name this insulation technology SoundSeal or SoundShield. These insulation shields block most of the noise produced during use. However, they also make the machine heavier and larger.

Therefore, you need to have enough space in your kitchen cabinet to install a sound-proofed garbage disposal. If you have enough room under your sink and find it important to have silent operating disposal, we strongly encourage you to choose disposal with sound insulation technology.

Watch video on Youtube: InSinkErator – Multi-Layer SoundLimiter™ Insulation

Continuous vs batched feed

Whether you have a batched or continuous feed disposal can also make a difference in the noise level. Although the difference will likely not be substantial, the batch feed disposals are quieter because you place a clog over the motor’s opening while the disposal is in use, which prevents noise from escaping from your kitchen sink drain.

Power of motor

The power of the disposal’s motor also plays a role in the noise the disposal produces during operation. Typically, a low-powered motor creates less noise.

However, we found that most high-powered disposal features sound insulation to compensate for the extra noise, while low-powered ones do not.

This leaves low-powered disposals being insignificantly noisier than high-powered disposals. Nevertheless, low-powered disposals still have the advantage of costing less, weighing less, and usually take up less space, which means that they are ideal for households that want quiet and budget-friendly disposal or have a kitchen with limited cabinet space.

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Noise level comparison

Like we mentioned in our introduction, the average garbage disposal that is not sound insulated generates around 80 decibels of noise during usage. The amount of noise disposal makes while in use depends on the type of disposal and whether or not the machine contains sound insulation. Soundproof garbage disposal lowers the noise level drastically. It can cut the number of decibels even in half.

Noise source and decibel level

• Whispering – 20 dB
• Bird calls – 40 dB
• Garbage disposal (insulated) – 45 dB
• Office sounds – 60 dB
• Garbage disposal – 80 dB
• Dishwasher – 80 dB
• Food blender – 90 dB
• Lawn mower (powered) – 100 dB
• Chain saw – 120 dB

Source

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This is what people say about silent garbage disposals

We have selected a few reasons why people like their quiet operating food waste disposer.

• “I couldn’t hear my InSinkErator as it is so quiet.”
• “I can barely hear the disposal over the running water.”
• “I love it for being unbelievable quiet and its vibration-free operation.”
• “Much more quiet than our old unit. The first time I was not even sure if it was working.”
• “My disposal is whisper quiet, except when it is chewing up bones.”
• “Our InSinkErator Evolution Excel is worth the expense when you want a quiet disposal.”

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So, is a quiet garbage disposal the right choice for you?

Overall, if having a quiet garbage disposal is important to you and your family, which is reasonable, you will need to choose between investing more money into the disposal or sacrificing power and quality. With high-end quiet disposal, you will also gain in durability and power, but you run the risk of your sink and cabinet not being able to support your disposal’s weight or size.

While, with low-powered quiet disposal, you keep the benefit of low weight and small size but sacrifice power, leaving you with the constant question of “can my disposal handle this type of food waste?”. This choice is up to you to decide.

Want to read more about garbage disposals?

Check Garbage Disposal Guide