Where the serial number is on a Whirlpool appliance
The model and serial number share one label. Open the door or lid first; on most Whirlpool appliances you won’t need to move the unit.
- Upper left wall of the fresh-food section (Whirlpool, Maytag, KitchenAid, Frigidaire top-freezer; Samsung French-door and side-by-side; newer LG models)
- Upper right wall (LG on most models; Frigidaire French-door and side-by-side; Whirlpool and Maytag side-by-side)
- On the rim, trim or frame of the door opening, often at the top (Whirlpool, Maytag, LG, Samsung, Frigidaire, GE)
- Under the lid, on the tub rim or the back of the opening (Whirlpool, Maytag, Frigidaire, LG, GE near the right hinge)
- Rim of the door opening, often at the top (Whirlpool, Maytag, Samsung; LG and Frigidaire say the top)
- Left or right side of the drum opening (GE). Ventless Whirlpool and Maytag dryers: behind the water tank
- Left edge of the tub frame (Whirlpool, Maytag, KitchenAid, GE, Samsung)
- Oven frame or side trim, seen with the door open (Whirlpool, Maytag, Frigidaire, GE, LG)
- Frame of the storage drawer, with the drawer pulled out (Whirlpool, Maytag, Frigidaire, LG, GE)
Basis: Official manufacturer help pages (Whirlpool, Maytag, KitchenAid, GE, LG, Samsung, Frigidaire, Bosch) and Sears PartsDirect for Kenmore. Diagrams are simplified; your model's exact spot can differ.
| Appliance | Where Whirlpool says to look |
|---|---|
| Top-freezer, bottom-freezer or French-door fridge | Inside the refrigerator compartment, left-hand side |
| Side-by-side fridge | Inside the refrigerator compartment, right-hand side |
| Upright freezer | Right-hand side, near the top of the freezer |
| Chest freezer | Left-hand interior side wall |
| Front-load washer | Inside the door, on the rim of the opening |
| Top-load washer | Beneath the lid, on the tub rim |
| Dryer | Inside the door, on the rim of the opening (ventless dryers: behind the water tank) |
| Built-in dishwasher | Left side of the tub frame |
| Gas or electric range | On the oven frame or the storage-drawer frame |
| Built-in wall oven | Top of the oven cavity |
| Over-the-range microwave | Front frame, with the door open |
Basis: official (Whirlpool Product Help, “Where is my Model and Serial Number Located?”).
The serial is the line marked “S/N” or “Serial”. Don’t decode the model number by mistake.
How to read the date
A Whirlpool serial has three parts:
- Plant code: one letter, or on some serials two letters.
- Year code: one letter or digit, right after the plant code.
- Week: the next two digits, 01 to 53.
On most serials the year is the second character, so the week is characters 3–4. Where the plant code is two letters, the year moves to the third character and the week to characters 4–5.
Some decoding sites say a 9-character serial uses position 2 and a 10-character serial uses position 3. Character count alone isn’t reliable. The Maytag dryer serial MX06404786 has 10 characters but decodes from position 2 (X, week 06). Read from position 3 it would give week 64, which doesn’t exist. The fix: pick the reading where the two digits after the year code form a real week (01–53).
Year-code table
| Code | Year(s) |
|---|---|
| 0–9 | Last digit of the year: 2010–2019, or 1980–1989 (1970s on very old units) |
| X | 1990 or 2020 |
| A | 1991 or 2021 |
| B | 1992 or 2022 |
| C | 1993 or 2023 |
| D | 1994 or 2024 |
| E | 1995 or 2025 |
| F | 1996 or 2026 |
| G | 1997 or 2027 |
| H | 1998 or 2028 |
| J | 1999 or 2029 |
| K | 2000 |
| L | 2001 |
| M | 2002 |
| P | 2003 |
| R | 2004 |
| S | 2005 |
| T | 2006 |
| U | 2007 |
| W | 2008 |
| Y | 2009 |
Basis: Whirlpool doesn’t publish this table. It comes from electrical-forensics.com’s Whirlpool date-code table, which is cross-checked against several independent decoding references and against real serials. The letters I, O, Q, V and Z are not used as year codes. electrical-forensics says N isn’t used either, but Sears PartsDirect’s Kenmore guide uses N for 2003.
Worked examples
- Whirlpool washer, model WTW5000DW1, serial C60842986. C is the plant. 6 is the year, and on a modern-style serial a digit means 2016. 08 is the week, so the washer was built in late February 2016 (electrical-forensics).
- Maytag dryer, model MED7230HW0, serial MX06404786. Maytag has used Whirlpool’s code since Whirlpool bought it. M is the plant, X is the year (2020 for this current-era model), and 06 is the week. That puts it in early February 2020 (electrical-forensics).
- Serial CR3949348 (an illustrative serial). R means 2004 in electrical-forensics’ table (Sears PartsDirect’s table reads R as 2005), and 39 is the week, so late September 2004 or 2005. No decade guesswork is needed.
- Kenmore washer, serial starting RA01. Sears PartsDirect reads this as the first week of 1991 or 2021. Whirlpool built many Kenmore laundry units.
A Whirlpool-family appliance built during 2026 carries F in the year position.
The decade problem and how to settle it
The code repeats, so one serial can point to two or three different years:
- K, L, M, P, R, S, T, U, W, Y only ever mean 2000–2009, so there’s no ambiguity.
- Digits 0–9 can mean the 2010s or the 1980s. On a unit you’d find for sale today, a digit is almost always 2010–2019. A 1980s appliance looks and feels its age.
- X and A–J mean the 1990s or the 2020s. That 30-year gap is the one to check.
To settle it:
- Look up the model number in Whirlpool’s Product Lookup. If current manuals and parts come up for that exact model, a 1990s reading is very unlikely.
- Check the owner’s manual. A print or revision date on the cover or back page should be close to the build year.
- Ask for paperwork. A receipt, delivery note or registration confirmation gives a firm “no earlier than” date.
- Look at the design. Touch controls, app connectivity and current styling rule out the 1990s.
What the age means if you’re buying used
The build date is the start of the appliance’s clock, not the start of its warranty. Warranties are normally counted from the original purchase or delivery date, so ask the seller for the receipt if coverage matters.
Once you know the year, compare it with typical service life:
- How long do refrigerators last?
- How long do washing machines last?
- How long do dryers last?
- How long do dishwashers last?
Age also feeds into price. See used washer prices and used refrigerator prices.
Limitations
- The serial gives the build week, not the install date, the hours of use or the condition.
- Whirlpool publishes no official decoder. The table above is a well-corroborated independent reference, not a Whirlpool document.
- Some websites publish Whirlpool tables with different letters. For example, Sears PartsDirect’s Kenmore guide lists N=2003, P=2004, R=2005 (no S), one year off from the table above for 2003–2005, and some unreliable sites claim J means 2020. Where a table disagrees with the one above, check it against a unit whose age you know before you trust it.
- Units built for Whirlpool by other factories can use other formats. If the serial doesn’t fit plant + year + week, contact Whirlpool support with the model and serial.
Next steps
- Enter the serial in the checker above.
- Run a recall check with the model and serial.
- Work through the used appliance buying checklist before you pay.
- For sister brands, see the Maytag and KitchenAid pages. For Sears units, see the Kenmore page.
Checked against the sources below on 26 September 2026.