Equipment age

Serial decode for the major US residential brands. This is an independent field read of published date-code conventions — not a maker age calculator. A printed date on the plate still wins.

Type the serial off the rating plate. Spaces and hyphens are ignored. Manufacture date is not the install date.

Diagnose this call

You have the year. The walkthrough is Diagnose — sign in.

Diagnose the call

How to read the plate

  1. 1Open the blower door or walk to the outdoor. The rating plate is on the vestibule, above the service valves, or on a side panel — not the carton sticker on the attic hatch.
  2. 2Copy the serial, not the model. Model 59SC5E is the plate. Serial 4014A12345 is the week and year.
  3. 3If the plate already prints MFR DATE / DOM / manufactured, use that. The serial is the backup.
  4. 4Manufacture week is not the install date. A 2018 furnace set in 2020 is still a 2018 heat exchanger.

Brand styles

Each brand has its own crawlable page with the worked example. Carrier week/year is not Goodman year/month. Lennox plant codes are not Carrier weeks.

Goodman

1509123456

First two digits are the year, next two the month. 1509… = September 2015. Ten characters, all numeric, is the current US residential style.

Amana

0109145052

Ten-digit numeric: year then month in the first four digits. 0109… = September 2001. Treat like Goodman unless the plate is hyphenated.

Daikin

1602393269

Ten-digit numeric uses the Goodman year/month read. 1602… = February 2016.

Carrier

4006A17330

Four numbers, a letter, five numbers. First two digits = week, next two = year. 4006A… = week 40 of 2006.

Bryant

4006A17330

Week then year in the first four digits, then a plant letter. Same modern style as Carrier and Payne.

Payne

4006A17330

Week (positions 1–2) then year (positions 3–4).

Trane

130313596L

First two digits year, next two week. 1303… = week 3 of 2013.

American Standard

10161KEDAA

Year in the first two digits, week in the next two. Same read as Trane.

Lennox

1606B13871

Ten characters. First two = plant (not week). Positions 3–4 = year. Fifth character A–L = month. 1606B… = February 2006, plant 16. Do not read this as a Carrier week/year plate.

Rheem

W291013412

Leading plant letter, then week, then year. W2910… = week 29 of 2010.

Ruud

W291013412

Plant letter + week + year. Same read as Rheem.

York

W0K5896070

Year is the 2nd and 4th characters concatenated (0 and 5 → 05 → 2005). Third character is the month letter. W0K5… = November 2005.

Coleman

W0K5896070

Same as current York: year in the 2nd+4th digits, month letter in the 3rd.

Heil

E072514528

Leading letter, then year, then week (or month when 01–12). E0725… = 2007 week 25.

Tempstar

E072514528

Letter + year + week. Same read as Heil / Comfortmaker.

Comfortmaker

R921500600

Letter + year + week. R9215… = 1992 week 15.

Nordyne

GBB030708229

Three-letter plant, then year, then month. GBB0307… = July 2003.

Date-code positions compiled from field-standard serial conventions and cross-checked against the Building Intelligence Center HVAC age library. FieldBench does not host, iframe, or republish that site. Older letter charts that are plant-specific are linked out instead of guessed.