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Bosch Water Heater Age Lookup

Bosch water heaters - from Tronic electric tanks to Greentherm tankless units - carry a date code that isn't obvious at a glance. Our decoder reads it for you and returns the true manufacturing date and age. Free and accurate, no signup.

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Bosch Water Heater

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2Enter Your Serial Number
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Finding Your Bosch Serial Number

Check these four spots on your Bosch water heater

Bosch water heater serial number locations

Common Locations

1
Side panel
near the bottom
2
Front panel
access / service door
3
Behind covers
removable access panels
4
Jacket label
upper side or top of tank

What to Look For

  • White or metallic manufacturer sticker
  • Labeled "Serial No." or "S/N"
  • Typically 8–12 characters long
  • Usually near the model number

Can't find it? Try removing access panels or checking behind the temperature dial.

Bosch Serial Number Examples

Bosch
388123456FD687400341
3-digit lookup or letters+code (pre-2010 only)

Don't worry if yours looks different - Bosch has multiple formats and our system can decode most variations.

About Bosch Water Heaters

Robert Bosch founded the company in 1886, and its heating division, now Bosch Home Comfort, brought European tankless and point of use electric designs to North America. The water heating range sold here has always been narrower than the European catalog, which is worth knowing before searching for a model that was never offered on this side.

The two gas tankless families get mixed up constantly. The Therm series is non condensing and reaches roughly 0.82 UEF. The condensing line was Greentherm 9000, which Bosch now lists as discontinued in North America. On the electric side, Tronic mini tanks serve a single remote sink, a different job from whole house heating and one that goes badly wrong when the two are sized interchangeably.

Bosch does not put a plain date in the serial. The date lives in a three digit code, printed after FD on the sticker on many units, and the decade has to be inferred from the month range because the code carries only one year digit; a sticker reading FD 001 00066, for example, decodes to January 2010. Some newer 23 digit serials hide the same three digit code at positions five through seven. This is the format owners are usually told only a professional can read. Enter the serial above and the tool will read it.

Where to find the serial

Bosch tankless water heaters have the rating plate on the bottom or right side of the wall-mounted cabinet. The serial is long and includes letters - it's labeled FD (FertigungsDatum, German for production date) on European-style units and SER on units sold under the Bosch Thermotechnology brand in North America.

What the serial actually looks like

9709 123456
Bosch uses a proprietary FD date code where the digits map to a production month via an internal lookup table - not a straightforward year/week format. Our decoder handles the lookup automatically, but the encoding is one of the more confusing in the industry.

Why the age is worth knowing

Bosch tankless units carry 10 to 15 year heat exchanger warranties depending on the model and 5 years on parts. The most common service issue is the flow sensor sticking after a few years of mineral exposure - a $40 part that takes 20 minutes to swap. The Therm 940 series and the Greentherm 9000 series have very different service parts so identify the exact model before ordering.

Quick answers for this brand

Why is Bosch's date code so weird?

Bosch uses an internal FertigungsDatum (FD) production date code that maps to months via a rolling lookup table, originally designed for European industrial tracking. The format isn't human-readable without the table, which is why a decoder is genuinely useful for Bosch units. Don't try to read it as YYWW or YYMM - the digits don't mean what they look like.

Is Bosch still selling water heaters in North America?

Bosch has scaled back its tankless presence in North America significantly since 2020, focusing more on heat pumps and HVAC. Existing units are still supported for parts and warranty through Bosch Thermotechnology, but new installations are less common. Replacement units are often Rinnai, Rheem, or Navien.

Where can I find parts for an older Bosch Therm?

Bosch parts distribution in North America runs through a network of HVAC distributors and a few online specialty suppliers. Common parts (flow sensors, igniters, gas valves) are still available, but specialty boards for older AquaStar models can be hard to find. Bosch tech support at 800-642-3199 can help locate parts.