Resources › Serial number examples
A date code is useful only when it belongs to the right brand, product family and era. Compare these masked teaching examples, then open the brand guide for its scope, limitations and manufacturer sources.
These illustrations come from published documentation. They are not customer uploads or a feed of successful checks. Dots hide production sequence characters; spaces separate code fields.
10 examples
The numeric year/week water-heater serial format illustrated by A.O. Smith
1719•••••••••
In the manufacturer’s illustrated format, 17 identifies 2017 and 19 identifies production week 19. The sequence characters are hidden. This is a documentation example, not a customer scan or an exact calendar-day result.
A.O. SMITH date-code guidance and lookupAmana heating and air-conditioning equipment
1306••••••
For the documented Amana HVAC format, the 1306 prefix indicates June 2013. This is a masked teaching example, not a customer check.
Amana date-code guidance and lookupBradford White tank water heaters using the documented two-letter date code
AC••••••••
In the documented format, this masked prefix indicates March in an A year, such as 2004 or 2024. It is a teaching illustration, not a customer label or a confirmed date for an individual tank.
BRADFORD WHITE date-code guidance and lookupCarrier HVAC week/year serial format
4810P•••••
In this format, 48 is the fiscal production week and 10 is the year 2010. This gives a week, not an exact calendar day.
Carrier date-code guidance and lookupGE household appliances using the two-letter date code
GA•••••••
GE uses GA to illustrate April 2001 or April 2013. The same year code also appears in other cycles, so this prefix is not a unique date by itself.
GE (General Electric) date-code guidance and lookupCommon numeric Goodman HVAC serials
1306••••••
In the documented YYMM format, 13 and 06 mean June 2013. The remaining production digits are hidden in this illustration.
Goodman date-code guidance and lookupLennox HVAC equipment using plant/year/month serials
58 06 B •••••
For this plant/year/month style, 58 is the plant identifier, 06 represents 2006, and B represents February. Spaces and dots are added only to explain the format.
Lennox date-code guidance and lookupLegacy Maytag household-appliance date codes
••••••••EL
Within the legacy period covered by the manufacturer guide, the EL ending represents June 2004. Masking hides the sequence digits while retaining the date-code example.
Maytag date-code guidance and lookupRheem tank-water-heater formats documented in technical bulletin 1207
M1412•••••
In the documented plant/week/year format, M is the plant identifier, 14 is production week 14 and 12 is 2012. This masked illustration gives a week, not an exact manufacture day.
Rheem date-code guidance and lookupYork HVAC identification and format differences
8001 1 F 2 ••••••
In the cited commercial format, 8001 identifies the plant, 1 the 2010s decade, F June and 2 the year within the decade: June 2012.
York date-code guidance and lookupA manufacture date may be printed separately, or the manufacturer may need to look it up. A safety-standard revision year is not the equipment’s production date. A model launch date is also different from the date of an individual unit.
Miele date guidanceTOSOT date guidanceHisense date guidanceABS date guidanceAnthes date guidance