How old is my GE Water Heaters water heater?

Serial number age decoder for GE Water Heaters tank water heaters: 1 format era, the decode rule in plain English, transcribed tables, and the official lookup.

• GE Water Heaters water heater serial numbers in the era not stated format encode the year as digits 3-4 (YY) and the month as digits 1-2 (MMYY prefix) (source: building-center.org).
• Example: serial 0804B10488 decodes to August 2004.

Format eras

• era not stated VERIFIED
  ####A#####digits 3-4 (YY)

How to read the serial

era not stated formatVERIFIED

Shape ####A##### · example 0804B10488 · confidence high

Year

digits 3-4 (YY)

Week or month

month = digits 1-2 (MMYY prefix)

Plant

letter at position 5

Example: serial 0804B10488 decodes to August 2004.

Listed under Rheem in the source; GE Water Heaters is named in that format's family and the corporate link is an estimate, not a checked fact.

Where the data plate is on a water heater

The rating plate is a large label on the side of the tank near the top or beside the control. The serial is printed on it, often beside the model number and the ANSI standard line.

General guidance, not brand-specific: the owner's manual or the installer can point to the exact spot. See the data plate guide.

For scale only: the InterNACHI Standard Estimated Life Expectancy Chart for Homes lists Water Heater (conventional) at 6 to 12 years of expected service (nachi.org). That chart is a guideline, not a prediction for your unit.

What we could not confirm

• GE Water Heaters is treated as sharing Rheem's format because the source lists it in that family; the corporate relationship itself is an estimate.
• No official online lookup URL was verified for GE Water Heaters.

Sources

• https://www.building-center.org/rheem/
• https://www.rheem.com/faq/official

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