How we check facts and build our tools

Appliance Checkup is a data and reference site. We don't run a test lab, and we never claim to have tested, opened or measured an appliance ourselves. Every figure comes from a named source or from a formula we publish here.

How we label figures

Serial-number date decoding

Each brand's rule was checked against at least two independent references, and against the manufacturer's own documentation where one exists (GE publishes its date code; LG stated its format on its US support page until at least 22 October 2026). Where references disagree we say so on the brand page and use the reading supported by the most sources and by real worked examples.

The decoder is tested against worked examples taken from those references; the next section explains how.

Many date codes repeat (every 10, 12, 20 or 24 years). The checker shows the most recent possible date first, marks the result "check the decade", and lists the alternatives. It never shows a date in the future. Samsung's 2026 year letter is not yet confirmed by any published source, and we label it that way.

How the age checker is tested

The checker's serial-number rules are run against a fixed set of 178 test cases kept with the site's code. Each case pairs a serial number with the result a published source, or a rule stated in one, gives for it, and notes where it came from. 45 cases cite a CPSC recall notice, which states the build dates or serial ranges it covers. The others cite manufacturer documents (service manuals, warranties, product handbooks and technical bulletins), published photographs of dated rating plates, home-inspection and parts references, and other published decoder guides; some refusal cases are built from a rule a source states. 31 cases expect a refusal: a model number typed as a serial, an impossible week or month, or a format no source lets us date.

Our rule is that every change to a decoder rule adds a case. The full test suite runs on every push to the code repository, and a release to the live site is blocked unless every case, the build and a site check pass.

A decoded date is an estimate of when the unit was built, read from its serial. Many codes repeat, so one serial can fit several years; the checker lists each plausible year, newest first, and 23 cases check that list. No date from the checker, or no match in the recall check, is not a safety clearance: check the rating plate and the official CPSC notice.

Counted from the test file when this page was built. Brands that share a date code are grouped.

Lifespans

We compare the NAHB study, InterNACHI, U.S. Department of Energy rulemaking documents and Consumer Reports. "Typical" is the middle of the credible published figures; "low" and "high" span them. Current values: refrigerator 9–13 (typical 12), washer 5–15 (10), dryer 10–14 (13), dishwasher 9–15 (10), range 13–17 (15) years. Each lifespan page lists what each source says.

Fair-price estimates (our estimate)

Estimate = typical new price for the model class × age factor × condition factor, rounded to $5.

• Age factor = 0.10 + 0.50 × (1 − age ÷ typical lifespan), never below 0.10. A nearly new unit is about 60% of new; a unit at or past its typical life is about 10%.
• Condition factor: like new 1.00, good 0.80, fair 0.55, not working 0.15.
• New-price bands come from retailer category listings and buying guides (September 2026). The formula was set against published evidence: Consumer Reports puts the average used discount at about 50%, and resale guides (Commonplace, The Appliance Advisor) cite 20–40% of retail for private sales of units a few years old.

Local markets vary a lot. Treat the range as a starting point for negotiation, not an appraisal.

Recall checks

Recall data comes from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's public Recalls API. CPSC's structured model field is almost always empty, so we read model numbers from the text of each notice, including wildcard families. A match means "open this notice and compare the full model and serial range". No match is not a guarantee, because some notices list models only in images, PDFs or on the manufacturer's site. We always link the official notice.

On the live site, the recall list is rebuilt from the full CPSC dataset every day. If that copy is unavailable, the tool queries CPSC directly from your browser.

How we use AI

We use AI tools to help research, draft and code. Before publishing, a separate AI fact-check pass that didn't write the draft checks each new or changed figure against its named source, we fix what it flags, and the editorial team approves every page and tool change before it goes live. The CPSC recall data updates automatically every day. Corrections are logged on this page. We don't publish pages generated in bulk, and we don't use AI to invent tests, reviews or experiences.

Images

Most guide images are AI-generated illustrations, labelled as AI-generated under each one. They show an action, such as reading a label, never a real person, product test, customer or member of our team. A few guides use licensed stock photos (Pexels), with the photographer and source credited under each one. The small thumbnails on Related links reuse each linked guide's own image, so most of them are AI illustrations too; they carry no label of their own because they are decorative. Diagrams and charts are drawn by us from the sources named on each page.

Corrections and updates

If you find an error, tell us. We check the claim against the source, fix it, and note it in the log below.

The recall list is rebuilt automatically every day from CPSC data. We re-check repair and replacement costs, new-appliance prices, and the tax credits and rebates on our water heater cost pages every quarter (next in early January 2027), state plumber pay every year when the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes its May wage data, lifespans every year, and serial-number rules whenever new evidence appears. Each guide shows the date it was last checked against its sources.

Update log

9 Nov 2026: checked every outside link on the site (514). A script followed each one; the 104 that refuse scripts, and every page a link now redirects to, were opened in a browser. Where a cited page had moved and kept the same content, the link now points to its new address. LG replaced its serial-number help page with one that no longer explains the date code, so our LG guides now cite an archived copy of LG's page (22 October 2026), and the LG guide adds an LG HVAC product sheet that gives the same rule for its outdoor units. Two Tab-TV pages that no longer open now point to archived copies. The Samsung guide's phone instructions now cite Samsung's US support page; its Irish page stays as a supporting source for where the fridge label sits. We re-checked the utility recycling rebates: PSE&G pays $150 for pickups booked by 31 December 2026 (normally $100), and DTE pays $100 for pickups booked 19 October–20 November 2026 (normally $50). The where-to-sell and used-value guides now say so.

2 Nov 2026: tightened the filter that builds our recall index. 31 products that aren't household appliances, such as freezer gel packs, pellet and wood stoves, gas fireplaces, a toy oven, oven cleaner and liners, tea kettles, stovetop espresso makers, toasters and baseball pitching machines, are no longer in the recall checker or its downloadable index. Two air conditioner recalls the filter had missed are now included: Amana, Daikin and Goodman packaged units (24-260) and Frigidaire and Carrier through-the-wall units made by Electrolux (04-151). The index now holds 240 recalls. The recall analysis on that page never counted the 31 products and doesn't yet count the two added recalls, so none of its figures changed.

2 Nov 2026: added an analysis of 235 US CPSC household appliance recalls (1973 to September 2026) to the recall check page, with its method, a chart and a downloadable CSV. Every figure is computed by a script from CPSC's recall data and was checked against the CPSC notices by a separate review before publishing. The recall checker itself is unchanged.

2 Nov 2026: corrected page dates. The AC and furnace hub and the Carrier and Goodman guides now show their real publication date, 16 October 2026, instead of the site's launch date, and no guide shows an "Updated" date earlier than the day it was published. The note about our editor now says that he and his partner approve every page, and the images section above now describes the mix of AI illustrations and stock photos the site actually uses. No figures changed.

2 Nov 2026: our guides now name their editor. The byline reads "By Faisal Noonari, Co-founder and Editor · Appliance Checkup editorial team", each guide ends with a short note about him, and his author page sets out his background, what he checks and what he doesn't do. How we check facts is unchanged, and no guide's figures or "Updated" date changed.

2 Nov 2026: merged five more guides into the pages that already answered the same question, and their old addresses now redirect there permanently. The dishwasher and dryer age guides are now the "How old is my dishwasher?" and "How old is my dryer?" sections of the dishwasher and dryer lifespan guides; the Sub-Zero guide is a section of the refrigerator age guide; the used refrigerator price guide, with its price tables by style, age and condition, is a section of the used appliance value guide; and the home inspector page is a section of the home systems age report. Every fact, worked example, recall and source the receiving pages lacked moved with them; label spots, date-code tables and checks they already had were not repeated, and a few long brand notes were shortened to a line with a link to the brand guide that holds the detail. No figures changed, and the checker and price estimator work as before. Three short articles (refrigerator after moving, cleaning a used washing machine, garage-ready refrigerators) stay available for readers but are no longer offered to search engines. The three vacuum parts guides (Shark filters, Dyson V10 filters, BISSELL PowerForce Helix belts) were removed because they were outside our appliance, water heater and HVAC age topics.

1 Nov 2026: merged two more guides into the pages that already covered their codes. Whirlpool and Kenmore water heaters are now a section of the A.O. Smith and State guide (American Water Heater, an A.O. Smith company since 2006, built Whirlpool's heaters), and Trane and American Standard a section of the AC and furnace guide; the old addresses redirect there permanently. Every fact, worked example, recall and source on the two old pages moved with them, and code tables the receiving guides already had were not repeated. No figures changed, and the checker still decodes Whirlpool and Kenmore water heaters, Trane and American Standard.

25 Oct 2026: merged two brand guides into the family guides whose date codes they share. Amana appliances are now a section of the Maytag guide, and American water heaters a section of the A.O. Smith and State guide; the old addresses redirect there permanently. Every fact, worked example, recall and source on the two old pages moved with them, and code tables the family guides already had were not repeated. No figures changed, and the checker still decodes both brands.

21 Oct 2026: our data tables are now free to reuse with credit: the water heater cost table and chart by state (with CSV, SVG and PNG downloads) and the CPSC recall index (CSV and JSON). An independent fact-check of the new text found five issues, all fixed before release: our terms had asked for a link back as a condition of quoting (now credit only, with a link optional); the list of fields we keep for each recall was incomplete; a chart note implied the national range was rounded; and a spelling and the appliance category names were made precise. No figures changed.

16 Oct 2026: added Trane and American Standard to the HVAC age checker, with a guide to their serial numbers. An independent fact-check of about 60 claims against nine official US sources led to six fixes before release: the Ducane and horizontal-furnace column wording; pre-1996 Ducane oil-furnace serials are now refused rather than guessed; CPSC recall 25-369 is cited correctly; the ten-digit serial layout is dated from 2004; American Standard's year coverage is stated as documented; and the rating-plate text is paraphrased instead of quoted.

16 Oct 2026: added central air conditioners, heat pumps and furnaces to the age checker and the home systems report, decoding Goodman, Amana and Daikin (year and month) and Carrier and Bryant (week and year) serials from the manufacturers' own warranties and service manuals, with a guide to each and an HVAC hub. Independent fact-checks led to these corrections before release: Goodman's own heating FAQ (not other makers) now gives the furnace plate location, the Daikin rule is limited to US ducted systems with Daikin's residential warranties cited, a Daikin VRV statement was corrected, the hub's Carrier example now comes from the manual it cites, and unsupported sister-brand claims were removed. Payne is not decoded because no Carrier or Payne document states its code.

16 Oct 2026: the checker now suggests a corrected serial when a misread character (such as the letter O for a zero) stops it from decoding, and labels the result as needing a check of the plate. We also added labelled AI illustrations to the guides and changed wide tables into cards on phones; no figures changed.

15 Oct 2026: independently checked about 60 claims in the water-heater flushing guide against 21 US sources, then rechecked the fixes. We limited a quoted A.O. Smith warranty to the heat pump models it covers, removed a technician-only monthly drain that read as homeowner advice, replaced 'most makers' with the makers we checked, added the manuals' electric-shock warning beside the scald warning and named the electric-tank manual behind the six-month first flush.

14 Oct 2026: independently checked about 60 claims in the water-heater heat-up guide against 15 US sources. We reworded two phrases that could read as if we had tested heaters, clarified a chart subtitle and corrected one source link and two source titles; no figures changed.

11 Oct 2026: independently checked 22 claim groups in the refrigerator-after-moving guide against five official GE, Whirlpool and FDA sources. No factual changes were required. The guide keeps the standing time before power separate from the cooling time before food, and defers to each model's own instructions.

11 Oct 2026: independently checked 14 claim groups in the used-washer cleaning guide against six sources. Removed a manual that was for the Mexican market, along with the bleach example taken from it, and used Whirlpool's US product help instead; a targeted recheck confirmed the fix. The guide follows each model's own care instructions and gives no universal cleaning recipe.

10 Oct 2026: independently checked 28 claim groups in the garage-ready refrigerator guide against six primary sources. No factual changes were required. Ambient model limits are distinguished from food-storage temperatures and outdoor approval. The generic AI garage image was corrected after a visual defect was identified; it does not depict a tested or specified product.

10 Oct 2026: independently checked 28 claim groups in the household water-heater sizing guide against seven primary sources. Corrected wording that overstated Rinnai's recommendation for installer review. The 60-gallon worksheet example is hypothetical, not an equipment recommendation; exact model capacity and first-hour ratings remain distinct. Added one-page and two-page printable editions of the same ten blank household and installer fields; no sizing calculation is performed.

10 Oct 2026: independently checked 23 claim groups in the tank-versus-tankless household guide against six primary sources. Corrected a source title; the comparison separates demand patterns, installation constraints and quoted costs. The AI concept illustration is labelled and is not an installation diagram.

10 Oct 2026: independently reviewed the Sub-Zero age guide, label diagram and two supporting links against official manufacturer guidance. The guide uses printed date fields and manufacturer support, not an invented serial decoder; product-line dates are not individual-unit build dates.

10 Oct 2026: the used-appliance value guide now shows selected dealer price evidence with source links, locations and a separate check date. Starting prices and dealer buy offers are labelled separately from retail bands and our calculator estimates. We removed wording that treated starting prices as price ceilings or suggested delivery was always included, and restored the plus sign on a dealer's open-ended washer price. The calculator formula is unchanged.

8 Oct 2026: added a labelled generic upright-vacuum illustration to the Helix guide. Independent visual review confirmed the caption and alternative text match the scene; it does not depict a verified BISSELL model, belt fit or product test.

8 Oct 2026: prepared a BISSELL PowerForce Helix belt guide. A separate AI fact-check reviewed 24 claim groups against seven official US sources, including eight exact model-to-belt listings and the identification diagram. No factual issues were found. Manufacturer listings are distinguished from physical fit tests and unverified aftermarket substitutes.

8 Oct 2026: added a Dyson V10 filter guide. A separate AI fact-check checked 24 model, part and care claims against seven official US Dyson sources and found no factual issues. The guide distinguishes Cyclone V10 and Konical parts, leaves unconfirmed variants unresolved, and keeps washing and warning-light advice specific to the cited machine. The image is a labelled generic illustration, not a product test.

8 Oct 2026: prepared a Shark replacement-filter guide. A separate AI fact-check verified all 18 manufacturer-listed part matches across 11 exact models, the filter types and label-location guidance against five official sources. No blocking factual issues were found. The guide distinguishes unresearched filters from confirmed matches and does not claim physical fit testing.

• 6 Oct 2026 (fixes from our 6 October site review): the recall check now also checks five water heater recalls that CPSC defines by serial number or build date (19-029, 08-241, 02-020 and 92-016 by serial; Navien 19-057 by build date), shown with the notice's conditions to check, never as a confirmed recall, and it now matches the Kenmore 911 combination ovens in GE recall 08-110. Microwaves are filed as microwaves rather than ranges, and combination microwave and wall ovens count as both. Pages that cited Department of Energy and EPA pages that no longer exist now cite current or archived sources, and a weekly check lists any cited link that stops working. The About, methodology and privacy pages now describe more accurately how we work and what the cookie banner does. New page: how long microwaves last. The checker names an older reading of a repeating code when one exists (a documented Maytag dryer from December 1972 used to show only 1996) and accepts a "Year made" from 1960. An automatic test now recomputes the price and cost tables on our used-price and water heater cost pages, and it found one cell off by $5 (a 3-year-old like-new fridge: $1,095, not $1,090). An independent fact-check (three rounds) of everything new or changed found 55 items; we fixed 54 and left one cosmetic difference in a source title. Most were in this release's drafts and never went live: a Navien result that said no notice lists the model when the build date falls outside its recall's window, though one does; advice to check the rating plate for "Ultra-Low NOx" that the 19-029 notice doesn't give; draft privacy wording that said analytics cookies are set only with consent (outside the EEA, UK and Switzerland they're on until you choose Reject). Some were live, including a recall check that missed the Kenmore 911 models in GE's 2007 recall (CPSC lists them without the 911 prefix) and a checklist line that credited Consumer Reports with advice about mold in fridge seals that it doesn't give; it now quotes CR's sniff test.
• 6 Oct 2026 (checker fixes, from our own code review): the age checker no longer stops without a result for units more than 40 years old; they are now shown as past every published lifespan. Choosing a water heater brand now switches the checker to "Water heater", so a water heater left on the default "Refrigerator" is no longer compared with fridge lifespans and prices. The checker now spots some model numbers typed into the serial field and asks for the serial instead of dating them: Whirlpool-family models such as WTW5000DW1 (which used to read as December 2008), Rinnai models such as RE199iN, Kenmore water heater models starting "153.", and the same code typed in both fields. Water heater results no longer use used-appliance buying advice. Pressing Enter before the page's script has loaded can no longer put your entries into the page address. "Add this to a report" now asks you to run the checkup again if you changed an entry after the result. Example runs no longer count as completed checks in our analytics.
• 1 Oct 2026 (review, part 2): the home systems age report now keeps your entries in this browser, so a reload doesn't lose them; they are never sent to us, and "Clear all" deletes them (the privacy policy says so too). The age checker's result has an "Add this to a report" button that carries the checked item into the report. The page for home inspectors now starts with the report and a sample. The sitemap now dates only pages that carry their own update date. A final independent check clarified that private browsing clears saved entries when all private tabs and windows are closed.
• 1 Oct 2026 (review): fixed two tool issues. A year you enter that is one year from the serial's date (for example 2017 against a February 2016 serial) used to be accepted with "High confidence" and a note saying the year settled the date; the checker and the home systems age report now say the two are one year apart, keep the serial's date and ask you to check the rating plate. Only an exact match now counts as confirming the serial, and "decade settled" appears only when a code repeats (a matching year on a code that doesn't repeat now reads "Matches the year entered", which closes the wording item left open on 30 Sep). Water heaters now have a heater type (tank, tankless, heat pump or not sure) that decides which lifespan applies, instead of the brand alone: heat pump models are compared with the 10 to 15 years given by the US Department of Energy and Rheem, and "not sure" shows all three figures without a stage. Navien and Rinnai start on Tankless and can be switched to Tank, so tankless rows no longer repeat the tank figure alongside.
• 30 Sep 2026 (tankless water heater cost): new page with installed, unit and labor ranges (the middle of Angi, HomeGuide and Fixr), gas vs electric vs propane, conversion extras, sizing, upkeep, brand warranties, the 2026 tax-credit status and a state table. Angi's by-fuel figures sit below its own installed range, so we treat them as unit prices and use HomeGuide and Fixr for the installed split. An independent fact-check (two rounds) found 15 items, all fixed. The main ones: the propane unit price was given as "not split out" when all three guides list one; a HomeGuide flush figure had been labelled a broader maintenance visit; the utility-rebate line had no source (now the ENERGY STAR Rebate Finder); the tank-to-tankless labor row now says it replaces, not adds to, the labor in the installed price; and two paraphrases had been placed inside quote marks. Both cost pages now say that for DC, South Dakota and Wyoming the hourly wage is the annual median divided by 2,080 hours.
• 30 Sep 2026 (cost estimator v2): the water heater replacement cost estimator now takes tank size (40 or 50 gallons), shows the labor part and adds optional extras (permit, haul-away, expansion tank, gas line, electrical line, moving the heater), each the middle of the trade guides' ranges. The heat pump range is now $2,000 to $4,600, using Angi's dedicated heat pump page; the page adds Home Depot and Lowe's figures and a section on 2026 tax credits and rebates. An independent fact-check (two rounds) found 14 items, all fixed. The main ones: a tank-to-tankless "extra" would have counted conversion labor twice, so it's now shown as information only; a HomeGuide labor page we used was missing from the sources; the expansion tank and gas line figures now use every guide that gives one; and the rebate change is described as DOE's notice words it.
• 30 Sep 2026 (inspector kit): added a home systems age report and a page for home inspectors. The report puts up to 8 appliances and water heaters on one printable US Letter page: the build date from the serial number (the checker's decoder), the age against the same sourced lifespans the checker uses (tankless figures for Navien and Rinnai), and a model-number match against our CPSC recall index, shown as "possible match" or "no match (not proof of safety)". Nothing you enter is stored. The inspectors page lists the free tools and printables, suggests how to cite us, and quotes what InterNACHI's and ASHI's standards of practice say about age (neither requires the inspector to state it). Nine new tests cover the report's rows. While checking our draft we corrected a worked example: a 7-digit Bradford White serial fits both 1987 and 2007, so the report lists 1987 as well as 2007. An independent fact-check found 11 items (no wrong facts), and we fixed 10: our Terms now say the printables may be given to clients unchanged; the tankless range is labelled as ours (InterNACHI's chart gives 10 years); tankless rows on the printed report also show the tank figure; and two recall notes (Lochinvar, Rinnai) were made more precise. Still to do: the report's wording when a year you enter agrees with a code that doesn't repeat.
• 30 Sep 2026 (recall audit): re-checked every water heater brand page against all 39 CPSC water heater notices in our recall index and CPSC's site. Changes: Lochinvar's 2023 boiler recall (24-018) also covers A.O. Smith and State Industries boilers, which the Lochinvar page left out, and the A.O. Smith page now points to both Lochinvar boiler recalls that name A.O. Smith and State; the American page names two more of its brands (Premier Plus and Powerflex) on the 2005 Robertshaw valve recall, lists the models in the 1996 Polaris recall, and notes that the 2016 "American Standard" recall is a different company; the Rinnai page cites CPSC's 2008 wall furnace notice (08-199); the Whirlpool and Kenmore page gives the control models and recall lines from the notices. Bradford White, Rheem, Reliance and Navien were already complete.
• 30 Sep 2026 (late night): added a water heater replacement cost page with a cost estimator, a water heater inspection guide and CPSC recall sections on the Bradford White, Rheem, A.O. Smith and Reliance pages. The estimator's state figures are our estimate: the national installed range (our median of Angi, HomeGuide and Fixr) with the labor third scaled by each state's median plumber pay (BLS May 2025 wage data, via the Labor Department's O*NET pages, all 50 states and DC). The inspection guide quotes InterNACHI's and ASHI's standards (ASHI approved a new standard in January 2026 that isn't in force yet) and gives no time for a water heater inspection on its own, because no source states one. Independent fact-checks (two rounds) found 1 wrong quote (a Rheem sentence), several overstatements and 2 checker issues; we fixed all but one wording preference. The main ones: Angi's page gives two different tank figures ($882 to $1,826 and $600 to $2,500), which we now show; a plumber's $50 to $250 is the service call fee, not the whole visit; one 1980 recall covered only certain LP heaters, not every Rheem heater; and week-coded serials near a month boundary now say the unit may date from either month (CPSC's notice for a Rheem recall lists week-5 serials, A0515…, alongside a 30 January 2015 date, while our checker showed February).
• 30 Sep 2026 (night): added Lochinvar, Navien and Rinnai decoders and pages, plus American and Reliance pages (both already decoded with the A.O. Smith code). Sources: Lochinvar's own serial guide, CPSC recalls 19-057 and 12-074 for Navien, and a Rinnai service manual backed by industry references and serials in Rinnai's 2012 brochure; 35 new test cases from documented serials. Navien and Rinnai results are compared with a tankless lifespan (about 20 years) instead of the tank figure. An independent fact-check found 20 items before publishing; we fixed the 19 that were on the site (the other was an internal note). The main ones: Lochinvar's 2020 boiler recall covers boilers sold, not made, after August 2016; one Lochinvar example serial came from a different Lochinvar document, so we now use the serial guide's own example; two quotes were not word for word; and a Rinnai manual section is headed "Water Heaters and Direct Vent Furnaces", which we now say.
• 30 Sep 2026 (evening): added a one-page water heater age cheat sheet (PDF), generated from the same decoder rules and lifespan data as the site. An independent fact-check (three rounds) found 23 items; we fixed 22 and kept a single one-page edition by choice. The main ones: the sheet now gives A.O. Smith's two-letter code used before mid-2004 (MD91 = April 1991), which the water heater hub table also lacked; Whirlpool and Kenmore are described as heaters built by A.O. Smith companies, not A.O. Smith brands; our own figures (the 11-year tank summary, the Bradford White 7-or-8-digit reading, Lochinvar years before 1993) are labelled as ours; and the age bands now match our water heater page. Our recall index only picks up a new appliance type at its next daily refresh, so we ran the refresh by hand: it now holds 272 appliance and water heater recalls from CPSC, 39 of them naming water heaters. We also made the daily refresh fail visibly if the CPSC download ever fails; before, a failed download would still have shown as a success and kept the previous data. The recall check now offers "Water heater" as an appliance type.
• 30 Sep 2026 (later): added Whirlpool and Kenmore water heaters (A.O. Smith group date codes; CPSC recall 19-029, American Water Heater's warranty and New York City equipment approvals), a page on how long water heaters last, and water heaters in the repair-or-replace calculator (repair costs and installed replacement prices: the median of Angi, HomeGuide and Fixr). Added 7 test cases from documented serials. An independent fact-check found 28 items before publishing, all fixed. The main ones: Angi's tank range tops out at $1,826, not $1,825; CPSC's 1980 recall names Sears brands, not Kenmore; not every Kenmore water heater model starts with 153 (some Survivor models start with 449); and the 2018 recall covers only Ultra-Low NOx gas heaters sold mainly in California. We also found a ranking page that reads a Whirlpool water heater's first letter as the year: that is the Whirlpool appliance code and doesn't apply to water heaters.
• 30 Sep 2026: added water heaters. The checker now decodes Bradford White (from Bradford White's own date-code chart), A.O. Smith and State (year-and-week code confirmed by CPSC recall 19-029; older month-letter code from CPSC recall tables) and Rheem, Ruud and Richmond (Rheem Technical Service Bulletin 1207 and rheem.com), and compares age with a tank lifespan of about 11 years (range 8 to 15) drawn from NAHB, InterNACHI, the US Department of Energy and the manufacturers. Added 24 test cases from documented serials. While checking sources we found that InterNACHI's chart gives the A.O. Smith month letter J as October; CPSC's official serial table shows J is September, and we follow CPSC. We left out one published Rheem example (R0804B10488 read as April 2008) because it contradicts Rheem's month-then-year rule.
• 29 Sep 2026: cheat sheet redesigned as a two-page large-print edition plus a one-page compact edition. Changes: the recall step now points to our recall check first (CPSC second); the "50% rule" was removed in favour of neutral age bands so the sheet does not steer a repair-or-replace decision; a record form was added. Both editions pass an automated layout check (nothing past the page edge or overlapping the footer) and were reviewed page by page before publishing.
• 28 Sep 2026: added the appliance age cheat sheet page and one-page PDF (generated from the page's own tables). An independent fact-check found 8 problems before publishing, including a Bosch date-code range that was also wrong in the Bosch page's FAQ (codes 00–09, not 00–29, wrap into the 2020s), a missing note that older Maytag-group serials ending in two letters use the legacy code, an unsupported claim about Frigidaire plates, and a refrigerator lifespan range on the fridge page that said 9–15 instead of 9–13. All fixed.
• 27 Sep 2026: fixed the tools after an outside audit. The checker now uses the year you enter to settle a repeating serial code, flags a mismatch between that year and the serial, asks which decade when a code repeats, and marks a serial that is too short to check fully ("Partial serial") instead of reporting high confidence. The price and repair tools reject blank, negative or out-of-range ages instead of treating them as zero. Lifespan wording now compares the age with the typical replacement age rather than promising years "left". Old results are marked when inputs change.
• 27 Sep 2026: added the Samsung serial number guide. We compared Samsung's date code with serial ranges in two CPSC recall notices: the 2009 microwave notice ties S1–S5 directly to January–May 2009 production; the 2022 washer notice gives sale dates only, so it supports (but can't prove) the 2021 and 2022 letters. We reworded the page on 27 Sep after a review pointed out that difference. An independent fact-check before publishing led to 8 corrections, including a mistyped serial in the CPSC check, noting that R and the other reused letters also mean a 2000s year, stating which year letters rest on a single community source, quoting the microwave recall hazard exactly, and removing unsourced claims about Samsung support and warranty dates.
• 26 Sep 2026: second check of the four new pages against the live sources. Corrected: Bosch oven and fridge label positions and FD = Fertigungsnummer (production number); Amana label positions now follow Amana's own page for every appliance; wall-oven label spots; Angi stove and oven repair ranges shown separately; Fannie Mae range figure marked as multifamily; the Thermador claim softened because no source confirms its plates; the home-page example serial now matches the documented unit (C60842986).
• 26 Sep 2026: added the stove lifespan page, the appliance model number lookup, and the Amana and Bosch serial number guides. An independent fact-check before publishing led to 16 corrections, including: narrowing the years an Amana can carry either serial format to about 2006–2014 (Amana was not Whirlpool-owned before 2006); relabelling new-range prices as our tiers built from HomeGuide's figures rather than HomeGuide's own; replacing an unverified Whirlpool example serial and an illustrative Amana serial with documented ones; removing a false argument about Bosch FD codes and an unsourced claim about self-clean cycles; splitting stove and oven control-board costs; removing Amana label locations we could not confirm; and adding sources for the 2006 Whirlpool–Maytag and 2012 Daikin–Goodman deals. The checker now gives a clearer message for an impossible Bosch FD year.
• 26 Sep 2026: added appliance photos (Pexels, credited) to 11 guides and two captioned AI illustrations.
• 26 Sep 2026: added "how old is my" washer, dryer and dishwasher guides. An independent fact-check before publishing corrected 11 points, including which brands put the dryer label at the top of the opening, the Kenmore 417 date position, and missing source links.
• 26 Sep 2026: repair costs now compare three independent trade guides (Angi, HomeGuide, Fixr) instead of Angi alone; the repair calculator uses the median of the three. Fixed a refrigerator lifespan row on the repair page that still showed the old 15-year high.
• 26 Sep 2026: an independent fact-check before launch led to these corrections: removed a U.S. Department of Energy 14.8-year refrigerator lifetime we could not locate in the published rule (fridge range is now 9–13 years); dated both U.S. Fire Administration dryer-fire figures (34% in 2008–2010, 31% in 2018–2020); replaced an illustrative GE serial with a documented one; noted that Sears PartsDirect reads Whirlpool year letters P, R and S one year later than our main source; corrected OfferUp shipping, a Best Buy price range and a Samsung 2016 recall remedy; replaced two dead links.
• 26 Sep 2026: launch pages published. While building the decoder we found that a published example (Bosch FD 0301) is January 2023, not March 2023 as one of our research notes said. We corrected the page before publication.