Water heaters are enigmatic. They hide in closets and silently go about the work of making sure hot water flows from taps. But when a water heater reaches the end of its life, homeowners may have no advance warning.
Smith Water Heaters Innovation has a name. When it comes to high efficiency water heaters, no one comes close to matching the expertise and innovation of A. Smith.Whether you need a gas, an electric, or a tankless water heater, the inventive minds at A. Smith have one waiting for you. View all water heaters. How to determine the age of your AO Smith water heater. This company coded its water heaters by style. If you’ve got a water heater that is considered by AO Smith to be current (Style 1), locate the first 2 numbers in sequence to identify the year of manufacture. Digits 3 or 4 pinpoint the week of the year during which your unit was.
Ao Smith Electric Water Heater Age
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- How can I tell the age of an A.O. Smith water heater from the serial number? Sunday, June 17, 2018 The first two numbers in the serial number, which may appear after one or two letters, are the year of manufacture of an A.O. Smith water heater. So the data plates shown below indicate that the water heaters were manufactured in 1989 and 2004.
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How many things can go wrong that cause a water heater’s early demise? Leaking drain valves. Leaking pressure relief valves. Leaking tanks and condensation are among the culprits. Even the location of your water heater could expose it to additional risks.
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How long should you expect your unit to last?
One of the ways to keep tabs on the performance of your water heater is to assess its age, says the original This Old House host Bob Vila. “A traditional tank-type water heater lasts an average of eight to 12 years,” he notes. But that four year difference can mean a lot to homeowners counting a dozen years of performance.
Why it’s important to know your water heater’s age
Knowing the age of your water heater helps you act proactively, before potential catastrophes strike. Where to find that age? Locate the data sticker on your tank that is in close proximity to the warning labels and energy guide.
If you’re lucky, the install date will be printed in plain sight. If it’s not, write down the serial number.
This contains a code for the month and year your unit was manufactured. The following 10 companies hold the key to the age of your water heater so scroll down until you find the brand that provides the hot water for your home.
How to determine the age of your Bradford White water heater
According to the vendor, you can employ the following table to determine the manufacturing year of your heater:
Read the first two Letters of your tank’s serial number. The first letter is the year and the second letter is the month (according to the following table):
First Letter of Serial Number (Year) | Second Letter of Serial Number (Month) |
A=2004 B=2005 C=2006 D=2007 E=2008 F=2009 G=2010 H=2011 J=2012 K=2013 L=2014 M=2015 N=2016 P=2017 (or 1997) S=1998 T=1999 W=2000 X=2001 Y=2002 Z=2003 | A=January B=February C=March D=April E=May F=June G=July H=August J=September K=October L=November M=December |
Example: If you Serial Number starts with MG, then the manufacturing age is 2015, July.
How to determine the age of your AO Smith water heater
This company coded its water heaters by style.
Style 1
If you’ve got a water heater that is considered by AO Smith to be current (Style 1), locate the first 2 numbers in sequence to identify the year of manufacture. Digits 3 or 4 pinpoint the week of the year during which your unit was produced.
Example: 1411****** (Year=2014, 11th week)
Style 2
All water heaters falling into the Style 2 category (manufactured before 2008) use digits 3 and 4 to denote year of manufacture, but these models usually also include a letter (second in the serial number) indicating month of manufacture as follows:
A=January
B=February
C=March
D=April
E=May
F=June
G=July
H=August
J=September
K=October
L=November
M=December
B=February
C=March
D=April
E=May
F=June
G=July
H=August
J=September
K=October
L=November
M=December
Example: *E07****** (Year=2007, May)
How to determine the age of your Rheem water heater
Because Rheem produces water heaters under at least 20 brand names, identifying their dates of origin could seem impossible, but in fact, the company used the same coding system for its 5 styles of water heaters. Identify the style and you unlock the key to figuring out your unit’s manufacture date.
Style 1: Digits 1-2 represent the month of manufacture; digits 3-4 denote the year.
Style 2: The week of manufacture is found in digits 2-3; the year follows as numbers 4-5.
Style 3: Digits 3-4 denote the week of the year the unit was made; digits 5-6 stand for the year.
Style 4: Digits 5-6 represent the month the unit was made; digits 7-8 denote the year.
Style 5: What separates this style from other units? Digits 1-2 establish the year; digits 3-4 represent the month, but these two sets of numbers are always separated by a period between the two (e.g 09.07-***)
How to determine the age of your Whirlpool water heater
Whirlpool water heaters are relatively easy to date because the company only originated two style numbers, and each offers a relatively fast way to determine date of manufacture.
Style 1 units are divided into three components. The first 2 numbers identify the year while the second 2 numbers represent the week the unit was made. The water heater’s unique 7-digit sequence number follows.
Example:1206********** (Year 2012, week 6)
Style 2 water heaters follow exactly the same date identification order, but the sequence number that follows these dates is composed of only 6 numbers.
How to determine the age of your GE water heater
You’re in luck if you own a GE water heater because these units are manufactured by Rheem, so you can refer to #3 in this guide (Style 1). If you don’t want to do that, just look past the initial letters posted on the information sticker and you can decode the 3rd and 4th digits as the year of manufacture.
How to determine the age of your Ruud water heater
Edwin Ruud invented the water heater in 1889, and while his company is now owned by Rheem, his brand lives on.
If you happen to own an older Ruud water heater, you’ll find its age by identifying the serial number, skipping any letters that begin the sequence and identifying the date of manufacture by the 3rd and 4th digits.
You’ll owe a debt of gratitude to the company for abandoning the industry’s traditional coding system fairly recently. These days, look to the right of the serial number and you’ll spot the manufacture date printed in plain English.
How to determine the age of your State Industries water heater
You’ll find this company to be unambiguous when it comes to identifying year of manufacture: Just look for the serial number and those first 2 numberswill indicate the year the unit was made. State Industries water heaters produced after 2013 are even easier to identify: the company began to add the actual “build date” to the tank information label.
How to determine the age of your US Craftmaster water heater
There’s no code to decipher; just check the first 2 numbers on the serial number to identify the unit’s year of manufacture.
![Age Age](/uploads/1/1/9/5/119587509/945956131.jpg)
How to determine the age of your Kenmore water heater
The Kenmore brand has been around longer than most of us have been alive, yet the company’s system of coding is relatively easy to interpret. If there is no capital letter starting off the serial number sequence, those first two numbers indicate year of manufacture.
On the other hand, if the serial number on your tank begins with a letter, that indicates the month it was made, so use this 12-month alpha sequence to identify it:
A=January
B=February
C=March
D=April
E=May
F=June
G=July
H=August
J=September
K=October
L=November
M=December
B=February
C=March
D=April
E=May
F=June
G=July
H=August
J=September
K=October
L=November
M=December
Example: G04******** (Year 2004, July)
How to determine the age of your Reliance water heater
Spot the serial number on the data plate, skip the capital letter and determine the year the water heater was built by identifying the first 2 numbers in the sequence (after the capital letter).
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Ao Smith Heater Age 40
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Editor’s Note: Though a water heater is relatively inexpensive compared to the price of a house, repairs for the damage caused when one suddenly has a catastrophic failure is likely to be expensive. This is the reason many inspectors want to be able to give their clients some idea of how old the device is and when they need to begin considering replacement.
by Mike O’Handley, LHI
How old is that water heater and what is the maximum service life an owner can expect? Your clients need to know the answers to these questions and others.
Service life varies from place to place and is affected by the quality of the product, minerals/chemicals in water, the amount of maintenance the water heater receives and usage. In other words, there is no set maximum expected service life. In fact, two neighbors with exactly the same brand water heater installed on exactly the same day on the same street in identical houses can have completely different experiences. In some parts of the country it is normal to expect between 10 and 15 years, while in others a homeowner is lucky if the water heater lasts 10 years.
The manufacturing date is coded into the serial number of water heaters and, since there are more than 100 different brands of water heaters in this country, trying to memorize every single serial number code at first seems impossible. Impossible until one realizes that until just a few years ago only six manufacturers produced those 100+ brands and some shared the same basic method for coding. This makes the task of memorizing the coding methods far less formidable. In this article I’ll explain the coding method used by each of the six major manufacturers. At the end of the article, there are links to a handy decoding chart at the website Inspectorsjournal.com. The chart helps to decode about 95 percent of the water heaters currently in homes in this country and it is periodically updated*.
American Water Heater Company
American Water Heater Company, manufacturer of 52 separate brands of water heaters, uses a 10-digit serial number with a year/week code in the first four digits of the serial number. The “year of” is the first two digits followed by the two digit week of the year. For example, the serial number 0602****** indicates that the water heater was manufactured the second week of 2006. A complete list of brands manufactured by American is contained in the decoder chart linked to this article.
American Water Heater Company, manufacturer of 52 separate brands of water heaters, uses a 10-digit serial number with a year/week code in the first four digits of the serial number. The “year of” is the first two digits followed by the two digit week of the year. For example, the serial number 0602****** indicates that the water heater was manufactured the second week of 2006. A complete list of brands manufactured by American is contained in the decoder chart linked to this article.
A.O. Smith Corporation
Until 2008, A.O. Smith Corporation manufactured only three brands of water heaters – A.O. Smith, Glascote and Perma-Glas, and used a 10-digit serial number with a letter-month/year code in the second third and fourth digits of the serial number. With this system, the letters A to M, excluding the letter I, are used to designate the months. The letter A for January, B for February etc., followed by the two digit year. For example,*H06****** indicates that the water heater was manufactured in August 2006. In 2008 A.O. Smith acquired State Industries, a manufacturer of about two dozen different water heater brands, and moved all manufacturing of residential water heaters under the A.O. Smith umbrella to the State facility. When looking at an A.O. Smith, Glascote or Perma-Glas water heater, if the decoding procedure above doesn’t work, the water heater might have been manufactured in the State facility after 2008, in which case one should try using the State Industries procedure outlined later in this article and refer to the State portion of the decoding chart.
Until 2008, A.O. Smith Corporation manufactured only three brands of water heaters – A.O. Smith, Glascote and Perma-Glas, and used a 10-digit serial number with a letter-month/year code in the second third and fourth digits of the serial number. With this system, the letters A to M, excluding the letter I, are used to designate the months. The letter A for January, B for February etc., followed by the two digit year. For example,*H06****** indicates that the water heater was manufactured in August 2006. In 2008 A.O. Smith acquired State Industries, a manufacturer of about two dozen different water heater brands, and moved all manufacturing of residential water heaters under the A.O. Smith umbrella to the State facility. When looking at an A.O. Smith, Glascote or Perma-Glas water heater, if the decoding procedure above doesn’t work, the water heater might have been manufactured in the State facility after 2008, in which case one should try using the State Industries procedure outlined later in this article and refer to the State portion of the decoding chart.
Bradford-White Corporation
Bradford-White manufactures two brands of water heater- Bradford-White and Jetglas, and uses a 9-digit letter/number code with two letters signifying the year and month of manufacturer. The letters I, O, Q, R, U, and V are skipped to produce 20-year cycles. These cycles began in 1964 with the letter A, therefore the letter A in the first position of a B-W serial number can represent the years 1964, 1984 or 2004. B-W’s second letter corresponds to the month of the year as with the A.O. Smith example above.
Bradford-White manufactures two brands of water heater- Bradford-White and Jetglas, and uses a 9-digit letter/number code with two letters signifying the year and month of manufacturer. The letters I, O, Q, R, U, and V are skipped to produce 20-year cycles. These cycles began in 1964 with the letter A, therefore the letter A in the first position of a B-W serial number can represent the years 1964, 1984 or 2004. B-W’s second letter corresponds to the month of the year as with the A.O. Smith example above.
Ao Smith Water Heater Age Warranty Check
Prior to 1973, the month letter was placed at the end of the 9-digit serial number but from 1973 on it has been in the second position. For example, the serial number B********D indicates the water heater was manufactured in April of 1965 but the serial number BD******* can indicate that it was manufactured in April of 1985 or 2005. The trick is being able to distinguish the age of water heaters with the same date codes manufactured after 1973. Fortunately, most home inspectors can do this easily by checking the large yellow energy usage tag on the unit to see which ANSI date is posted there. There is one exception to B-W’s serial number code that was caused by a computer glitch when some units were manufactured with a serial number beginning with OA – O being one of the numbers that is not used. Any found with a serial number beginning with OA will have been manufactured in January of 1997.
Ao Smith Water Heater Age
Lochinvar Corporation
Lochinvar Corporation was acquired by A.O. Smith in July of 2011, so most Lochinvar numbers in the chart are accurate as of this writing. Lochinvar only manufactured four brands of water heater – Lochinvar, Energy Saver, Golden Knight and Knight, and used the identical dating code system used by Bradford-White Corporation.
Lochinvar Corporation was acquired by A.O. Smith in July of 2011, so most Lochinvar numbers in the chart are accurate as of this writing. Lochinvar only manufactured four brands of water heater – Lochinvar, Energy Saver, Golden Knight and Knight, and used the identical dating code system used by Bradford-White Corporation.
Rheem Corporation
Rheem Corporation manufactures 20 different brands of water heaters and uses two different serial number series, one that is all numbers and the other which is both letters and numbers. However, the date code is based on the first four digits of the serial number, which signify the month followed by the year, the letter, which is in the fifth position, doesn’t need to be considered. For example, any Rheem manufactured product bearing the serial number 0794****** or 0794F***** will have been manufactured in July of 1994.
Rheem Corporation manufactures 20 different brands of water heaters and uses two different serial number series, one that is all numbers and the other which is both letters and numbers. However, the date code is based on the first four digits of the serial number, which signify the month followed by the year, the letter, which is in the fifth position, doesn’t need to be considered. For example, any Rheem manufactured product bearing the serial number 0794****** or 0794F***** will have been manufactured in July of 1994.
State Industries
State Industries was acquired by A.O. Smith in 2008. State manufactures 23 separate brands of water heaters, including the Kenmore (Sears) brand, and uses a letter-month/year serial number code similar to the A.O. Smith model with the letter signifying the month, followed by a number for the year. The difference is that the code is in the first three positions of the serial number, therefore a serial number C05******* indicates that the water heater was manufactured in March of 2005.
State Industries was acquired by A.O. Smith in 2008. State manufactures 23 separate brands of water heaters, including the Kenmore (Sears) brand, and uses a letter-month/year serial number code similar to the A.O. Smith model with the letter signifying the month, followed by a number for the year. The difference is that the code is in the first three positions of the serial number, therefore a serial number C05******* indicates that the water heater was manufactured in March of 2005.
There are other brands of water heaters being sold in this country that are not made by one of these six manufacturers; however, these 100+ brands comprise the overwhelming majority of residential water heaters that inspectors will encounter. Once one understands how these serial numbers work and learns to recognize each of the manufacturer’s patterns, it’s much easier to feel confident that one is providing the customer the correct information about the age of the appliance.
*This story is reprinted with permission from Inspectorsjournal.com. To download the most recent versions of the decoder chart, Click here. If you are not a forum member at The Inspectors Journal (TIJ), you’ll need to register. Registration is free, only takes a couple of minutes and TIJ doesn’t spam anyone or transfer members’ information to others.