How old is my BRADFORD WHITE?

1. Find the rating label. Where to look on each kind of appliance.
2. Take a photo of the whole label, or note the model and serial numbers.
3. Use the lookup below. It is free, and no account is needed. A date is shown only when the available evidence supports it.

Bradford White water heater age: serial number date guide

Bradford White tank water heaters using the documented two-letter date code · Sources checked October 12, 2026

Bradford White documents a year letter followed by a month letter at the beginning of the serial. The rest identifies production sequence. Use the serial field on the water heater rating plate, together with the complete model.

Year letters repeat on a twenty-year cycle. For example, A can represent 2004 or 2024, and C as the second letter means March. Earlier cycles also exist. A matching prefix therefore gives possible dates, not a unique year by itself.

Keep candidate dates until the full model, original documents or manufacturer records distinguish the cycle. A purchase or installation invoice is useful context but records a different event from manufacture. Do not choose the newest possible year simply because the tank looks clean.

Bradford White also documents an OA-prefix exception for units built in January 1997. Do not force an unusual code into the ordinary chart; use the manufacturer’s guidance. Manufacture age does not establish warranty coverage, condition or remaining life.

• Bradford White owner guide: rating plate, year and month codes
• Bradford White technical guide: date format and OA exception

BRADFORD WHITE appliances

How to find the age, the serial number, typical life and parts for each:

• BRADFORD WHITE water heater (tank)8–12 yrs
• BRADFORD WHITE tankless water heater15–20 yrs
• BRADFORD WHITE boiler15–30 yrs

Bradford White makes gas, electric, propane, heat pump, indirect and tankless water heaters, residential and commercial boilers, storage tanks and home heating products; its heat pump water heaters include the AeroTherm and GeoSpring names, and these are counted as water heaters here.

Bradford White is an employee-owned American maker of water heaters, boilers and storage tanks, based in Ambler, Pennsylvania. It sells only through plumbing wholesalers to licensed professionals rather than through retail stores, and builds most products in U.S. plants such as Middleville, Michigan.

Owned by

Bradford White Corporation (employee-owned)

Headquarters

Ambler, Pennsylvania, United States

Founded

1881

Product lines

AeroTherm (heat pump water heaters), GeoSpring (heat pump water heaters), Vitraglas (tank lining), Bradford White Wave (controls), Bradford White Connect

Sister brands: Laars, Bradford White Canada, Electro Industries, Heat-flo, Bock Water Heaters, FloLogic.

• 1881: Bradford White traces its roots to this year.
• 1933 to 1938: Gerald E. White received patents relating to water heaters.
• Today: Tank water heaters are made in Middleville, Michigan, storage tanks in Niles, Michigan, and Laars boilers in Rochester, New Hampshire.
• Today: The group also includes Electro Industries (Minnesota), Heat-flo (Massachusetts), Bock Water Heaters (Wisconsin) and FloLogic (North Carolina), with Canadian operations in Halton Hills, Ontario.

Every BRADFORD WHITE check is compared with Health Canada, U.S. CPSC and U.S. NHTSA recall notices.