How Do I Tell How Old My Water Heater Is?

It is only a few months before we the seasons of water heaters is going to be upon us again. The use of water heaters has gotten so common that hardly do you get to find someone who doesn’t utilize it in the winter season.

If you are anything like me, you may have suffered the frustration of being unable to find the age of your water heater in order to determine if it’s time to get a new one. This is exactly why I thought of writing this article so that people will get to know about it in an efficient fashion.

While there may be multiple different ways to find the age of your water heater, the simplest has one has to be by looking at the data which is available on the label of your water heater. To begin with, you need to find the manufacturer’s label of your water heater.

The manufacturer’s label is usually around the warning label or perhaps the energy guide and has the installation date mentioned over it. If not, however, then you’ll have to make use of the serial number on the same label.

Different brands use a different format but certainly mention the manufacture date in the serial number. Let me mention a few of the examples of different brands in order to give you a better idea.

Example#1: 1008D3456 = (MMYYPnnnn)

In the above example, MM is the month of manufacture, YY is the year of manufacture, P is the plant identifying code, and nnnn is for the serial number of your particular kit.

Example#2: 9904135791 = (YYWWxxxxxx)

In the above example, YY is the year of manufacture, WW is the week of manufacture, and xxxxxx is for the serial number of your particular kit. Since WW is 04 in the above example, it means your kit was manufactured in the fourth week of the year 1999 i-e late January 1999.

It certainly takes a little time to get used to decoding the serial number on your water heater. But once you have learned, it is very convenient to find the age of your water heater from the serial number. At least, I found it extremely convenient.

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Nikki

Founder at Shower Remedy

Nikki founded Shower Remedy in 2016, as a one-stop resource for bathroom design and renovation projects. Today she manages our team of writers and product testers who personally review every product that makes an appearance on this site. Our product testers range from contractors to professional plumbers to ordinary families, so you can get an honest review from people you can trust.