How do I know which of the four years is right for my GE appliance?

Three things usually settle it. The print date on the owner's manual, normally shown near the publication number in a format like 02-20. The model number, which ties to a specific production era. And your own purchase history — if you bought the house new in 2012, a 1989 candidate is out.

What does the letter at the end of a GE serial number mean?

GE does not publish its meaning, so we do not claim one. It is not part of the date code. Any site that tells you it identifies a factory or a production line is going beyond what GE documents.

Does this work for GE Profile, Café and Monogram?

Yes. GE's premium lines use the same two-letter date code, which GE confirms in its Monogram support documentation. The serial format is shared even where the products are not.

My GE serial starts with a letter that is not in the list. What now?

Check the plate again in good light. The twelve-letter set exists specifically to avoid ambiguous characters, so a letter outside it nearly always means a misreading. If you are confident the character is right, tell us — that would suggest a format variant we have not sourced.

GE appliance age finder

GE serial numbers are unusually easy to read and unusually hard to pin down: the month is almost always certain, and the year is one of four or five candidates.

Look up a GE Appliances appliance

How GE Appliances serial numbers work

GE draws both letters from the same twelve: A, D, F, G, H, L, M, R, S, T, V and Z. In the first position they mean January through December in that order. In the second position they mean the year, on a cycle that repeats about every twelve years.

GE uses the same twelve letters for both fields: A, D, F, G, H, L, M, R, S, T, V and Z. In the first position they run in order from January to December. In the second position they carry the year, on a cycle that returns to the same letter every twelve years.

The letter set is chosen to avoid ambiguity, and it is worth knowing which letters are not in it. B, C, E, I, J, K, N, O, P, Q, U, W, X and Y never appear as a GE date code. If you read one of those in the first two positions, the character has been misread — B and D, G and C, and F and E are the usual confusions on a worn plate.

GE serials run two letters, six digits, and often a trailing letter. That trailing letter is not part of the date. GE does not publish what it signifies, so we label it and move on rather than inventing a meaning for it.

The format survived the 2016 acquisition by Haier unchanged, so it applies to appliances built either side of that. It also applies to Hotpoint appliances sold in North America, which are GE-built — though not to Hotpoint in Europe, which is a completely different company.

Example GE Appliances serial format

An example built from published documentation. We never use real customer serial numbers.

FR123456

F is the month code for March. R is the year code, most recently 2020, and before that 2008, 1996 and 1984. The six digits are the unit sequence.

Appliance types we can decode for GE Appliances

Refrigerator
Freezer
Washing machine
Clothes dryer
Dishwasher
Range
Oven
Cooktop
Microwave
Air conditioner
Dehumidifier
Water heater
Ice maker

Categories not listed here are either not made under this brand or not covered by a rule we can source.

Where to find the label on a GE Appliances appliance

Refrigerators: inside the fresh-food compartment, commonly on the ceiling near the front or on the side wall.
Ranges: on the frame behind the oven door, or behind the storage drawer.
Dishwashers: on the door edge with the door open, or on the inner tub wall.
Washers and dryers: under the lid, inside the door, or on the rear panel.

Production-period caveats

The twelve-year repeat is inherent to the system. GE's own support article says so, and recommends checking the print date on the owner's manual to work out which cycle applies.
The month is normally certain even when the year is not.
The format did not change when Haier acquired GE Appliances in 2016.

Why a lookup commonly fails

A letter outside the twelve-letter set was entered — often B, C or E, which are easily confused with D, G and F on a worn plate.
The serial was read from a Hotpoint or Café appliance sold outside North America, which uses a different system.

Sources for the GE Appliances rules

GE Appliance — How to Determine the Age or Manufacture Date
GE Appliances (Haier) · retrieved 29 July 2026
Monogram Appliance — How to Determine the Age or Manufacture Date
GE Appliances (Haier) · retrieved 29 July 2026
GE Date Codes
Electrical Forensics · retrieved 29 July 2026

Official GE Appliances support: GE Appliances service and support. Rules last reviewed 29 July 2026.

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GE Appliances serial number questions

How do I know which of the four years is right for my GE appliance?: Three things usually settle it. The print date on the owner's manual, normally shown near the publication number in a format like 02-20. The model number, which ties to a specific production era. And your own purchase history — if you bought the house new in 2012, a 1989 candidate is out.
What does the letter at the end of a GE serial number mean?: GE does not publish its meaning, so we do not claim one. It is not part of the date code. Any site that tells you it identifies a factory or a production line is going beyond what GE documents.
Does this work for GE Profile, Café and Monogram?: Yes. GE's premium lines use the same two-letter date code, which GE confirms in its Monogram support documentation. The serial format is shared even where the products are not.
My GE serial starts with a letter that is not in the list. What now?: Check the plate again in good light. The twelve-letter set exists specifically to avoid ambiguous characters, so a letter outside it nearly always means a misreading. If you are confident the character is right, tell us — that would suggest a format variant we have not sourced.