Bradford White Water Heater Age Lookup
Bradford White is sold through plumbers, not big-box stores, and its serial number uses a unique letter-based date code. Enter yours to decode the exact month and year, covering Defender, AeroTherm, and the RG series. Takes seconds and costs nothing.
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Finding Your Bradford White Serial Number
Works on Defender gas, electric, and Infiniti tankless models. Check these four spots.
Electric tank shown. Spots are similar on Bradford White gas models.
Where to Look
Defender Safety System gas models: the plate sits just above the gas control valve near the bottom of the jacket.
Infiniti (K and L series) tankless units: check the lower edge or the right side of the cabinet.
What You're Looking For
Bradford White labels are headed BRADFORD WHITE CORPORATION with the Middleville, MI address. The line marked Serial No. sits directly below the model number, and that's the number to enter above. The D/N box beside it is not part of the serial.
- White label headed BRADFORD WHITE CORPORATION
- The "Serial No." line, just below "Model No."
- Two letters followed by 7 to 8 digits (e.g. MC51234567)
- No store branding, because Bradford White sells through plumbing wholesalers, so you may see an installer's stamp instead
Can't find it? On Defender gas models, check behind the lower burner access door. On electric models, look under the upper element cover or behind the thermostat panel.
Bradford White Serial Number Examples
The year letter runs on a 20-year cycle (L, M, N, P, S, T, W, X, Y, Z, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, J, K, with I, O, Q, R, U and V never used), so the same letter comes back around every 20 years.
Don't worry if yours looks different. Bradford White has also used MMYY codes on oil-fired units and a one-off "O" series in 1997, and our decoder handles those too.
About Bradford White Water Heaters
Bradford White traces back to 1881 and builds from Ambler, Pennsylvania. It is American owned and employee owned, and it sells only through plumbing wholesalers, never through big box retail, so every unit in the field was installed by a contractor. Manufacturing runs out of Middleville, Michigan and Rochester, New Hampshire, with a Canadian operation in Halton Hills, Ontario.
The line leans on tanks: atmospheric, power vent, direct vent and power direct vent gas, electric, the AeroTherm heat pump series, and commercial eF Series condensing units. Tanks are lined with Vitraglas enamel. The two features a service technician will ask about first are the Defender Safety System, with its flame arrestor and resettable thermal switch, and the ICON gas control, which reports faults through a blinking status light rather than a display. The Infiniti tankless units are made for Bradford White by Rinnai and use a different serial format from the tanks.
The tank serial is the most readable in the industry once you know the trick. The first letter is the year, on a twenty year repeating cycle, and the second letter is the month. Any letters after those two are plant codes, so read only the first pair. MC51234567, for example, reads March 2015: M is 2015 on the current cycle and C is March. A serial that begins with two letters and then runs to numbers is the standard format; the short letter and three digit serials belong to much older units.
Where to find the serial
Bradford White serials are on the rating plate wrapped around the top of the tank, usually printed in small black text on a white or silver background. Look for SERIAL NO. directly below the model number. The serial starts with a single letter that's the most important character on the whole sticker - that letter is the year code.
What the serial actually looks like
Why the age is worth knowing
Bradford White builds heavy-duty tanks and many residential units carry a 6-year tank warranty, while their Defender Safety System eF series commercial units can run 3 or 5 years. The tanks themselves often live well past warranty if water quality is reasonable, but the gas valve and thermal switch are the parts that fail first.
Common model numbers you'll see
RG2DV40T6N, MI50T6FBN, RG250T6N, M-I-50R6DS, M2TW50T6FBN
Quick answers for this brand
Why does Bradford White use letters instead of numbers for the year?
Bradford White has used a single-letter year code since the early 1980s. The chart cycles through 20 letters (L, M, N, P, S, T, W, X, Y, Z, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, J, K - skipping I, O, Q, R, U, V) representing 20 years, then repeats. That's why our decoder needs to consider the model series to pick the correct decade.
Are Bradford White water heaters only sold by plumbers?
Yes, Bradford White is one of the few major brands that refuses to sell through big-box retailers. They distribute exclusively through plumbing wholesalers, which means installation almost always comes via a licensed contractor. The serial label sometimes includes the wholesaler's stamp.
What does the Defender Safety System mean for serial decoding?
Defender Safety System is Bradford White's FVIR-compliant burner design introduced in 2004. The serial format didn't change when they introduced it, but if your tank has the Defender label and a year-letter that would map to before 2004, you're looking at the more recent cycle.
Need a plumber?
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