Since 2029 is still in the future, Appliage excludes it. Bradford White used seven digit production sequences before December 2007 and eight digits afterward, so the eight digits in FC12345678 rule out 1989 too. That leaves March 2009.
Appliage decodes Bradford White serial numbers with one date rule. The first letter is the year and the second is the month, so FC12345678 is March 2009. Year letters start at A for 1984 and repeat every 20 years, so the same letter can fit an older cycle too. For FC12345678, the eight digit production sequence rules out March 1989. The year and month tables under Bradford White Water Heater Age Rules below give every letter.
Find the Age of Your Bradford White Water Heater with Appliage
Type the serial number into Appliage. The result shows the newest past manufacture date and an estimated age, along with any older date that remains possible.
Bradford White Water Heater Serial Number Rules
- 1 repeating year code
- 2 month letter
- remainder production sequence
Position 1 gives the year code, which repeats every 20 years. Position 2 gives the month. The remaining characters form the production sequence. They identify the individual water heater but do not influence its manufacture date.
Month code in position 2
| Code | Month |
|---|---|
| A | January |
| B | February |
| C | March |
| D | April |
| E | May |
| F | June |
| G | July |
| H | August |
| J | September |
| K | October |
| L | November |
| M | December |
Year code in position 1
| Code | Years in Bradford White’s current chart |
|---|---|
| A | 2004 / 2024 |
| B | 2005 / 2025 |
| C | 2006 / 2026 |
| D | 2007 / 2027 |
| E | 2008 / 2028 |
| F | 2009 / 2029 |
| G | 2010 / 2030 |
| H | 2011 / 2031 |
| J | 2012 / 2032 |
| K | 2013 / 2033 |
| L | 2014 / 2034 |
| M | 2015 / 2035 |
| N | 2016 / 2036 |
| P | 2017 / 2037 |
| S | 2018 / 2038 |
| T | 2019 / 2039 |
| W | 2020 / 2040 |
| X | 2021 / 2041 |
| Y | 2022 / 2042 |
| Z | 2023 / 2043 |
Bradford White’s current chart lists two years for each letter, 20 years apart. Its older 1984–2003 cycle can still be relevant to an older tank; for example, F can also mean 1989. A future year on the chart is not a possible manufacture date today. The year codes omit I, O, Q, R, U, and V. The month codes use A through M and omit I.
Bradford White also says a computer error produced some serials starting with OA; those were built in January 1997, and Appliage returns that month for them. For example, OA8226825 returns January 1997 even though O is not in the normal year table.
Bradford White’s product bulletins also identify real serial prefixes: XC as March 2021, YG as July 2022, BG as July 2025, and CB as February 2026. These confirm the year and month letters in those bulletins. They do not tell us which cycle applies to every tank with the same two opening letters.
Bradford White Serial Number Example: YE1395234
Serial number YE1395234 returns May 2002 (Estimated). The first two letters can also point to May 2022, but the seven-digit production number places this serial before Bradford White changed to eight digits in December 2007.
- Split serial number YE1395234 as Y | E | 1395234.
- Y means 2002 in the first cycle and repeats as 2022. E means May.
- The production number after YE has seven digits. Bradford White used seven-digit numbers through December 2007, so May 2022 is ruled out.
- A 2002 recall notice covers Bradford White serial numbers through YE1395234 and confirms this serial belongs to the older cycle.
Therefore, Appliage returns May 2002 (Estimated).
How the Production Number Narrows the Year
A repeating year code can leave more than one past date. For example, split serial number PJ0002271 as P | J | 0002271. P can mean 1997 or 2017, and J means September. The production number after the two letters has seven digits, so Appliage rules out September 2017 and returns September 1997 (Estimated).
An installation permit, purchase record, or Bradford White factory lookup can identify which 20-year cycle applies. A record dated before the newest candidate rules that candidate out.
Bradford White’s serial-number FAQ says the production sequence has seven digits before December 2007 and eight digits afterward. Appliage now uses that change when the characters after the two date letters are all numbers: seven digits keep dates through December 2007, and eight digits keep dates from December 2007 onward. December 2007 is included on both sides of the change.
The year codes used by this decoder begin in 1984. If the water heater is older, or the serial number does not begin with two accepted date letters, Appliage cannot return a manufacture date. Bradford White Brute Mini boilers, built by Laars, carry a different serial layout; CPSC recall 22-176 lists them by serials such as V21306262 through V21311453, which this two-letter chart cannot read. Installation and warranty dates are separate from the manufacture month.
If the plate says A. O. Smith or Rheem instead
Water heater brands do not share one date code. A. O. Smith and State stamp modern tanks with plain digits, the year first and then the production week. The A. O. Smith water heater age lookup walks through that format.
Rheem printed the month and then the year through August 2012, and the week and then the year after that. The Rheem water heater age lookup covers the switch and the date it happened.
Sources
- Bradford White age and serial lookup. The year and month letters are listed beside the lookup.
- Bradford White serial-number FAQ. It describes the seven-digit and eight-digit production sequences around December 2007.
- Bradford White service manual (238-54464-00). Bradford White explains the month codes and why the year letters repeat.
- Bradford White blower bulletin. Its XC serial prefix is dated March 2021.
- Bradford White ElectriFLEX wiring bulletin. It identifies YG with July 2022 production.
- Bradford White anode-rod bulletin. It uses BG for July 2025.
- Bradford White ERE labeling bulletin. It explicitly dates CB to February 2026.
- CPSC: Laars Brute Mini boiler recall (22-176). The listed Bradford White-branded boilers have serials outside the two-letter tank format.
- CPSC: Bradford White gas water heater recall (2002). The affected serials run from YD to YE1395234, corresponding to April and May 2002.
For other brands, see our appliance serial number lookup.
