Bradford White water heater age by serial number
The first two letters of a Bradford White serial number are the date of manufacture: the first letter is the year and the second is the month, from A for January to M for December. Type the serial below. The decoder reads it with the letter table Bradford White publishes and uses the length of the serial to drop the decade that cannot be right.
Where the serial number is
On tank models the serial is on the rating label on the side of the jacket, next to the model number, and you can read it without removing any cover. Bradford White's My Water Heater page has pictures of where that label sits on each type of heater. The serial is the code that starts with two letters followed by seven or eight digits.
Twenty year letters, each used twice
Bradford White gives twenty letters to years and leaves out I, O, Q, R, U and V, which are easy to misread on a worn label. Its table prints two cycles side by side: A is 2004 or 2024, B is 2005 or 2025, and so on up to Z for 2023 or 2043. The month letters skip I as well, so J is September, K October, L November and M December.
Why the serial got longer in December 2007
According to Bradford White's FAQ, the production number after the two letters had seven digits until December 2007, the month coded DM, and has had eight digits since. A complete serial therefore has 9 characters before that month and 10 after it. That single fact settles most decade questions: a 10-character serial starting with C cannot be from 2006, so only 2026 is left.
Heaters made before 2004
The printed table begins in 2004. Counting the same cycle 20 years back gives 1984 to 2003 for the letters A to Z, and a government recall confirms that earlier cycle at one point: CPSC recall 02-553 from 2002 covers Bradford White serials starting YD and YE, sold in April and May 2002, which is exactly what Y = 2002, D = April and E = May predict. Results from the earlier cycle are labelled as derived, so you can see what they rest on.
How to read the plate, step by step
- Type the serial as printed on the tank label; spaces and dashes are ignored.
- Read the first letter as the year and the second as the month.
- Count the characters: 9 means made before December 2007, 10 means December 2007 or later.
- If two years are still listed, compare them with the age of the house and any installation paperwork.
Serial formats the decoder reads
| Format | How it is read |
|---|---|
| Bradford White year letter + month letter | Bradford White: the first letter is the year and the second letter is the month (A = January to M = December, I is skipped). The digits after them are the production sequence: 7 digits before December 2007, 8 digits from December 2007 (code DM) on. |
Worked examples
Each serial below is either printed in a source or built by us strictly by the source's rule (marked "by the rule"), and each is an automated test of the decoder. Readings that depend on today's date are as of October 27, 2026.
| Serial | Result | Why |
|---|---|---|
| YE1395234from a source | May 2002Decoded | Serial from CPSC recall 02-553, which covers serials YD (all) to YE 1395234 sold in April and May 2002. |
| YD1000001by the rule | April 2002Decoded | Any serial in the recall's YD range: year letter Y, month letter D = April. |
| DM12345678from a source | December 2007Decoded | DM is the code Bradford White's FAQ gives for December 2007, when the sequence grew to 8 digits. The same letters also stand for December 2027, which is ruled out until that month arrives. |
| CA12345678by the rule | January 2026Decoded | C is 2006 or 2026 in Bradford White's table; a 10-character serial rules out 2006. |
| AB1234567by the rule | February 1984 or February 2004Two possible dates | A 9-character serial with year letter A: February 2004 from Bradford White's table, or February 1984 on the earlier cycle. |
Edge cases and limits
- A 9-character serial with the year letter A, B, C or D can be from 1984 to 1987 or from 2004 to 2007; the decoder shows both.
- A 10-character serial starting with D and any month letter other than M would be 2027, which has not happened yet, so it is reported as not fitting the format. DM itself reads as December 2007 for now and becomes a two-year answer once December 2027 has passed.
- From 2028 on, the letters E and later will again fit two years each (2008 or 2028, and so on); the decoder adds the second year automatically when its date arrives.
- A serial starting with O is not in Bradford White's table. Forums mention it, but we do not decode it.
- Tankless, commercial and oil-fired Bradford White models, and units made before 1984, have no published date rule.
Questions
How do I tell how old my Bradford White water heater is?
Read the first two letters of the serial number on the tank label: the first is the year and the second the month. Because the year letters repeat every 20 years, also count the characters: 9 means the heater was made before December 2007, 10 means December 2007 or later.
Why does the decoder show two possible years?
Bradford White's year letters repeat every 20 years. The serial length separates units made before and after December 2007, but within one length the same letters can still mean two decades. The older the plate and the paperwork look, the more likely the earlier year.
Can Bradford White confirm the date of my water heater?
Bradford White's FAQ points owners to its My Water Heater page and its warranty center, where a serial number can be checked with the manufacturer directly.
Related pages
- Lochinvar: Older Lochinvar tanks also use a two-letter year and month code that repeats every 20 years.
- Rheem: Rheem, Ruud and Richmond tanks put the date in digits instead of letters.
- A. O. Smith family: State, American and Reliance tanks are dated with the A. O. Smith rule.
- All water heater brand families: Every brand family we decode, and the brands we do not decode yet with the reason.
- Where to find the data plate: Where the serial number sits on each type of equipment and how to copy it without mistakes.
- Service life estimates: What ENERGY STAR publishes about typical ages, and what kind of number each figure is.
Sources
Every rule on this page comes from the documents below, published by the manufacturer or a U.S. government agency. The date is when we last checked each one.
- My Water Heater: age of water heater Bradford White Corporation. Checked .
- FAQs (serial number length before and after December 2007) Bradford White Corporation. Checked .
- Recall of gas water heaters (CPSC recall 02-553) U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Checked .