Model numbers, data plates and date codes

Finding out exactly what a machine is: model and serial plates and where manufacturers hide them, date codes, and the household record that turns a parts search or a recall check from an afternoon into a minute.

Common failure modes

• A part ordered against the badge on the front instead of the data plate
• A serial plate photographed too late, after the machine was taken out
• A date code copied down but never decoded
• A record that exists only in one person's memory
• A recall notice missed, because no list of models was ever written

Procedures

• How to find and record the model and serial number of every appliance in the houseAlmost every useful thing you can do with an appliance starts with its model number. Checking whether it has been recall

Where this stops

Identification work that belongs to one class of equipment stays with that equipment: a tire date code is in the vehicle section, and the age of a water heater is in water heating. This section holds the cross-cutting record keeping and the general reading of a data plate.