What Appliage Does
Appliage is a free tool that helps you find when an appliance was made. Select the brand, then enter the serial number from the appliance rating plate. For some brands, the serial number alone is enough. For others, entering the model number helps Appliage find the most likely manufacture year.
Appliance brands do not use one shared serial number system. GE uses month and year letters, Whirlpool uses a year digit and production week, while Bosch prints the date in a separate FD number. Appliage applies the rule for the brand and serial number structure you enter.
Find the age of your appliance or browse the serial number rules by brand.
How Appliage Finds the Manufacture Date
- Copy the complete brand name, model number, and serial number from the same rating plate.
- Appliage checks the serial number structure and selects the matching rule for that brand.
- It reads the characters that represent the year, month, production week, or day.
- If a year code has more than one meaning, Appliage may compare the possible years with the period when the model was made.
Some serial numbers contain a full two-digit year, so the model number is optional. Other brands reuse the same year letter or digit after 10, 12, 20, or 21 years. In those cases, the model number can help narrow the result to the most likely manufacture year and month or production week. If the model information does not identify one year, Appliage shows every possible date.
How We Decode the Serial Number Rules of Different Appliance
We research each brand separately and use several source channels. Manufacturer date-code guides and service manuals explain which serial number positions contain the date. Manufacturer product catalogs, support pages, parts records, and archived pages help us identify an exact model and the period when it appeared.
We also use model records from government and industry databases. Each one narrows the possible years in its own way:
- The California Energy Commission’s appliance registry dates when a model was first registered in California. A model is usually registered close to the start of production, so the registration year sets an earliest likely year for the model.
- ENERGY STAR certification lists, including archived historical lists, show which years a model was on the list. When a model is absent from one year’s list and appears on the next, that change marks the earliest possible years. We keep the historical captures, so a model that left the list years ago still counts.
- Annual EnergyGuide filings collected by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) name the models a manufacturer reported for each year from 2003 through 2011. A filed year is direct evidence that the model was in production that year, so the first and last filed years bound the range.
- Natural Resources Canada (NRCan/EnerGuide) records when a model left the Canadian market, which caps the latest likely years.
- The U.S. Department of Energy compliance database and the AHRI directory confirm that an exact model exists and how it is certified. That verifies the model itself before any date logic runs.
The main job of these records is to break ties. Many serial number systems repeat their year codes every 10 or 20 years, so one serial number can point to several possible years. The model’s records rule out the decades where the model did not exist, often leaving a single year.
These channels do not all prove the same thing. For example, an ENERGY STAR certification date is not the manufacture date of an individual appliance. It only shows that a model was listed during a certain period. Appliage starts with the date code in the serial number, then uses model records to help choose between repeated year codes. We compare the available records with worked examples before adding a rule. Each brand guide lists the sources used for that brand.
Appliance companies sometimes reuse a brand name, buy another brand, or have products made by a different manufacturer. A shared owner does not always mean that two brands use the same serial number system. The model number and product type may therefore be needed before Appliage can choose the correct rule.
How to Read an Appliage Result
| Result | What it means |
|---|---|
| Confirmed | A model and serial number record identifies one manufacture date. |
| Estimated | The serial number gives one date, but no record confirms that individual appliance. |
| Possible dates | The date code can mean more than one year, so Appliage shows every year that still fits. |
| Age not found | The information entered does not match a rule that Appliage can currently use. |
What an Age Not Found Result Means
An age may not be found because the serial number is incomplete, a character was entered incorrectly, or the wrong brand or product type was selected. The appliance may also use a serial number format that is different from the formats already in Appliage.
Our database is still growing. Some brands, production years, regional models, and less common serial number formats may be missing. An age not found result does not always mean that the serial number contains no date code. It may mean that we have not added the matching rule or model information yet.
Who Appliage Is For
Homeowners can use the manufacture date when deciding whether an appliance is worth repairing. Home inspectors, property managers, repair professionals, and used-appliance buyers can also use it to identify and document the equipment in front of them.
Independent Appliance Research
Appliage is an independent appliance age research tool. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any appliance manufacturer. Brand names are used only to identify the serial number system that may apply to an appliance.
Corrections and Brand Requests
If a result looks wrong, or if Appliage does not include your brand or serial number format, email [email protected]. Include the brand, model number, serial number, and a clear photo of the rating plate when possible. That information helps us check the existing rule or research a missing one.