Nordyne serial number lookup: age of a furnace, AC or heat pump
The serial number is on the rating plate: inside the cabinet of a furnace, or on the side or back panel of an outdoor unit. In a Nordyne serial the fourth and fifth characters are the year and the sixth and seventh are the month.
Decode a Nordyne serial number
How to read a Nordyne serial number
Three characters, then year and month
Skip the first three characters. The fourth and fifth characters are the year and the sixth and seventh are the month.
Shape: three characters followed by nine digits. Plates from the 1990s print a dash before the last five digits.
FGA030310579 reads as March 2003.
This layout rests on inspection references that agree with one another. No manufacturer document or recall notice was found to check it against. The documented examples run from 1995 to 2015.
Where to find the serial number
On a furnace the rating plate is on the inside of the cabinet, behind the front access panel.
On an outdoor or packaged unit it is on the side or back panel of the cabinet.
If the serial number does not decode
- Nordyne builds or built the heating and cooling equipment sold as Frigidaire, Maytag, Intertherm, Miller, Gibson, Tappan and Westinghouse. They share this layout.
- If the sixth and seventh characters are not a month from 01 to 12, the serial is in an older layout that is not decoded here.
- Gas furnaces from the 1980s and 1990s print the year of the safety standard they were certified to, for example “Z21.47” followed by a year. The furnace was built in that year or a few years after it.
What the age tells you
| Equipment | Typical service life |
|---|---|
| Furnace | 15 to 22 years |
| Central air conditioner | 10 to 21 years |
| Heat pump | 15 to 16 years |
About Nordyne
Nordyne began in 1919 as an oil-burner company and became Intertherm in 1969. It was renamed Nortek Global HVAC in 2015 and now trades as Nordyne again. Rheem bought the company in 2024. Nordyne builds heating and cooling equipment sold as Frigidaire, Maytag, Intertherm, Miller and Gibson.
Questions and answers
Which characters in a Nordyne serial number show the date?
Skip the first three characters. The fourth and fifth characters are the year and the sixth and seventh are the month. This applies to units built since the mid-1990s.
Sources
- Building Intelligence Center: Nordyne HVAC age (independent reference): https://www.building-center.org/nordyne-hvac-age/
- McGarry and Madsen Inspection: age of a Nordyne air conditioner from the serial number (independent reference): https://www.howtolookatahouse.com/Blog/Entries/2018/6/how-can-i-tell-the-age-of-a-nordyne-air-conditioner-from-the-serial-number.html
- InspectAPedia: furnace age chart (independent reference): https://inspectapedia.com/heat/Furnace_Age.pdf
Formats last checked against these sources on October 5, 2026. Found a serial that does not fit? Send a correction. How formats are verified: method and sources.