How old is my York equipment?
Enter the serial number from the label. The date comes from York's documented serial rules, not a guess.
York serials changed in October 2004. Newer ones start with a plant letter, the year’s third digit, a month letter and the year’s last digit, so W1H6… is August 2016. Older ones start with four letters for the plant, month, year and type of unit. Those year letters repeat every 21 years, so for older units we show both possible dates.
By equipment type
York furnace age
Typical life: 15–20 years
York air conditioner age
Typical life: 10–15 years
York heat pump age
Typical life: 10–15 years
Questions
- What does WFKM mean at the start of my York serial?
- W is the Wichita plant, F is June and K is the year letter for 1980 or 2001. York’s own 2001 safety bulletin says units with the WFKM and WGKM prefixes were produced in Wichita in May, June and July 2001.
- Why does my older York serial show two dates?
- Before October 2004, the year letters A to N were reused every 21 years, so F can mean 1976 or 1997. Nothing in the serial tells them apart, so we show both. The rating plate or installation paperwork may settle it.
- Can you date a Coleman or Evcon serial that’s all numbers?
- Not yet. Industry references describe those formats, but we’ve found only one officially dated example, so they stay undecoded. Coleman, Luxaire and Evcon units made since October 2004 use the same format as York and are decoded.
- How do I find the age of my York equipment?
- Enter the serial number from the rating plate above. York uses the Johnson Controls / York family serial format, which includes the manufacture date.
Same serial format
Sources
- Johnson Controls Unitary Products limited-warranty certificates (UPGnet, archived 2014–2016)
- York serial number chart (history to October 2004 and new nomenclature), distributor copy
- Parts Town: York serial number lookup
- Building-Intelligence Center: York HVAC age
- York Unitary Products safety bulletin 0801 (2001): WFKM, WGKM serial prefixes built May–July 2001
- CPSC recall 01-523: York gas furnaces made May–July 2001, serials starting WFKM and WGKM
- CPSC recall: York Diamond 80 furnaces, serials EECM through EGEM, sold May 1994–July 1996
Rules last reviewed 2026-09-29. These rules are in Beta while we verify more real-world examples, so results are capped at medium confidence.
Manufacture dates are decoded from manufacturer serial-number conventions and available documentation. Serial formats can change. Verify critical equipment information with the manufacturer when necessary.