Find Your Bradford White Water Heater's Age
Bradford White uses one of the simplest — and one of the trickiest — serial date codes in the industry: just two letters. The first letter is the year, the second is the month. The catch is that the year letters recycle every 20 years, so a serial alone can point to two different decades. Our free decoder above handles both: it decodes the letters and shows you every plausible year so nothing gets guessed.
Where to Find the Serial Number
Look for the rating plate on the upper half of the tank — a silver sticker with the model number, serial number, and capacity. Bradford White water heaters are sold exclusively through plumbing professionals, so they're typically installed cleanly with the plate left accessible. If the sticker is grimy, wipe it down and photograph it; you only need the first two characters.
How the Bradford White Serial Format Works
First letter = year, second letter = month.
The year letter runs on a 20-year cycle, skipping the letters I, O, Q, R, U, and V — which leaves exactly 20 letters for 20 years:
| Letter | Years | Letter | Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 1984 / 2004 | L | 1994 / 2014 |
| B | 1985 / 2005 | M | 1995 / 2015 |
| C | 1986 / 2006 | N | 1996 / 2016 |
| D | 1987 / 2007 | P | 1997 / 2017 |
| E | 1988 / 2008 | S | 1998 / 2018 |
| F | 1989 / 2009 | T | 1999 / 2019 |
| G | 1990 / 2010 | W | 2000 / 2020 |
| H | 1991 / 2011 | X | 2001 / 2021 |
| J | 1992 / 2012 | Y | 2002 / 2022 |
| K | 1993 / 2013 | Z | 2003 / 2023 |
The month letter uses A through M (skipping I): A = January, B = February … M = December.
The 20-year cycle keeps repeating in both directions: each letter can also mean 20 years earlier (1964–1983) or later (2024 onward — so A can also be 2024). Our decoder lists every plausible year from the mid-1980s to today.
Worked example — FG1234567:
F= year letter → 1989 or 2009G= month letter → July- Result: manufactured in July 1989 or July 2009
Choosing between the two years is usually easy in practice: check the unit's condition, the style of the rating plate, and the model number against Bradford White's product literature. A unit installed in a 2010s-built home with an F serial is 2009, not 1989. If you genuinely can't tell, the decoder reports both years rather than picking one.
Why the Age of Your Water Heater Matters
- Lifespan. Tank water heaters typically last 8–12 years. Because Bradford White's letters recycle, an
A-serial unit could be a nearly new 2024 install or a 2004 unit at the very end of its life — knowing which cycle applies is the whole ballgame. - Warranty. Bradford White tank warranties generally run 6 to 10 years from the manufacture date, depending on the model. Decoding the serial tells you whether a warranty claim is even possible before you call a plumber.
- Replacement planning. A water heater rarely fails at a convenient time. Knowing the exact age lets you budget and schedule a replacement instead of paying emergency rates after a leak.
- Home inspections. Inspectors flag water heaters past 10 years old. If you're buying or selling, the serial number is the fastest way to settle how much life the unit has left.
Sources
Serial format details verified against Bradford White's own serial-number guidance, the InterNACHI water heater dating chart, and the Building Intelligence Center's Bradford White age guide.