Trane® HVAC age

How to determine the date of production/manufacture or age of Trane® HVAC Systems.

The date of production/manufacture or age of a Trane® HVAC unit can be determined from the serial number.

Parent:  Ingersoll Rand

Trane® has utilized multiple serial number formats over the years. Trane is an old and very established company with its roots originating in 1885 as a family plumbing business in La Crosse, Wisconsin which developed an innovative low-pressure steam heating system. By 1913 the family business had incorporated as The Trane Company, and began establishing themselves as a well-known climate control pioneer over the next hundred years.

Trane acquired Sentinel Electronics during the late 1970's, and later General Electric's Central Air Conditioning Division in 1982. In 1984, American Standard Companies, Inc.® acquired the Trane Company and launched its American Standard Heating & Air Conditioning® brand four years later. In 2007, American Standard Companies divided, and Ingersoll Rand® later acquired Trane in June of 2008. (History information from Trane®)

The serial number styles used during these many company changes are reflected below. Several styles overlap in certain years as the newly acquired companies transitioned. Several were only used for a brief period, some were used intermittently at various periods and for various products, while others continued to be used for many years under the trademarked Ingersoll Rand®, American Standard®, Trane®, and even GE® brand names. Our research also indicates that some styles used only a sequential order numbering that has no obvious method of decoding.

Because of the wide variety of styles or formats that Trane® used and the often similar styles found, other determining clues such as condition of the unit, style of the data plate, ANSI or CGA standards compliance dates, dates on service tags, and simple common sense should be used to approximate or estimate the year or decade of manufacture.

Example Serial number styles: 

(NOTE:  Serial Number styles found for several Ingersol Rand® and American Standard® Brands are being used here.)

  • Style 1:   91531S41F  -or- 10161KEDAA  -or-  130313596L
  • Style 2:   R1742DWBF  -or-  M35123456
  • Style 3:    A92M07217
  • Style 4:   123456T -or- B123456
  • Style 5:    2D-1234
  • Style 6:       H011870M03
  • Style 7:   F91-90391
  • Style 8:   EKK1915 (European style)
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Style 1:       91531S41F  or  10161KEDAA  or  130313596L

This Trane (American Standard) style began use in 2002. It consists of at least 3 or 4 digits at the beginning of the serial number.

From 2002 to 2009 the first digit represents the year. The next two digits represent week.

Starting in 2010, the first two digits represent year, and the next two digits represent week.

The remaining characters (sequence) can be any combination of letters or numbers usually starting with a single digit representing day of the fiscal week.

This style is VERY common and is still found in use under the Trane, American Standard, Ameristar, and Ingersoll Rand brand names to name a few. Please see the examples below.

Our research indicates that some earlier commercial and residential Trane models manufactured circa 1978-79 may have also used this style. Should you encounter one of these, their estimated age should be clearly evident based on condition or appearance alone, and they will have far exceeded the average estimated end of useful service life (EUL).

Style 2:    R1742DWBF -or- M35123456

NOTES: This style consists of 9 characters, always beginning with a letter followed by 2 digits.

The first letter represents year of manufacturer (see chart below).

The next two digits represent week of manufacture.

The remaining characters (sequence) can be any combination of letters or numbers usually starting with a single digit representing day of the fiscal week.

This style began seeing use during the 1980's in various brands, models, and products manufactured by Trane/American Standard. The company ceased using letters to designate year of manufacture after 2001 (represented by the letter "Z"), so any system encountered that uses this styling will typically be very near or has exceeded the average estimated useful service life (EUL). Beginning in 2002, numbers rather than letters are used for the year designation which is depicted in style 1 above.

Examples: F23456789 would be manufactured the 23rd week of 1991. C01D47415 would be manufactured the 1st week of 1988.

Note: The letters "S" and "Z" are easily confused because they are not listed in logical order in the chart below. "S" represents 1986, and "Z" represents 2001. The letters "A", "I", "L", "O", & "Q" were not used with this style.

Note: This style can be easily confused with styles 3, 4, 6, & 7. Many of the later units with style 2 formatting also included the manufacture date clearly printed on the data plate/label.

See also style 4 for additional relevant information.

Style 2 Letter Code Chart
Style 3:    A92M07217

This Trane style began seeing use in the 1970's and has reappeared in various models, brands, and products over the years.

**NOTE** This format is very similar to style 2 above as it is also 9 characters in length, and can be easily confused. The difference is this style begins with a letter, followed by a 2 digit year, and then another letter. Also helpful is to note the ANSI standard revision year. (See photo)

The first letter represents the factory code. Two factory codes we have encountered include "A" and "C"

The 2nd and 3rd digits represent the year of manufacture.

The 4th character letter represents month of manufacture.

Image
**NOTE:**  - The data plate photo above lists the compliance standard ANSI  Z83.8 with revision date of 1990 (outlined in the green box). Most manufacturers today are required to include the manufacture compliance standard on the data tag. The compliance standard for the U.S. is typically from the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). The common compliance standard for Canada is through the Canada Standards Association Group (CSA). Many times both standards are listed if the specific product is sold in both countries. Many manufacturers will normally list the compliance certification on the data tag/plate and indicate which revision YEAR the unit complies with. These standards are revised or renewed approximately every 4 to 6 (+/-) years. Because of this, one can reasonably estimate the year of manufacture within 4-6 years from (after) the standards date. In other words, the unit cannot be any older than the standard revision year listed. The photo above indicates the unit complies with ANSI Z38.8 standard revision year of 1990. This information is helpful in estimating the year of manufacture when it cannot be determined from the serial number, or the serial number is illegible.
Style 4:   123456T  -or-  B123456

This Trane serial number style was used from 1980 through 1982.

Depending on the product type, the letter may be the FIRST  - or -  LAST character of the serial number.

See the small chart below.

Note: This style appears to be the early beginnings of style 2 format above. The letters A, B, & C and O, T, & U  represent 1980, 1981, & 1982 respectively for some Trane products or models manufactured during this era. This explains to some extent the gaps found in the letter coding of the chart for style 2. Regardless, the condition, appearance, and/or type of unit using this style should be clearly evident of the era of manufacture.

It is possible that letters L, M, & N may also be used; however, we generally have only found their use in style 6 listed below.

Style 5:   2D-1234

This Trane style began appearing in the 1970's; however, some research indicates it was also used during the early 1980's  for some limited products or models.

The Year of manufacture is coded in the first digit of the serial number.

The Month of manufacture is coded in the second letter of the serial number.

Style 6:   H011870M03

This format was found on some Trane systems manufactured from 1980 - 1982.

The year of manufacturer is coded in the third last character (letter).

The next two digits represent week of manufacture.

Style 7:   F91-90391

This Trane style is very similar to style 3 above, and also began seeing use in the 1970's. It has reappeared in various models, brands, and products over the years.

Not to be confused with the 9-character style 2 or style 3. This format is only 8 characters (excluding hyphen), and used a hyphen after the first three characters (date codes) in the serial number.

This style was generally used from the 70's into the 90's.

Style 8:   EKK1917

This style appears to be a European product style serial number. The unit was manufactured by Golbey (an American Standard Company) in France. The data plate shown below includes the manufacture date (month and year) clearly noted. We can only presume the letters at the beginning of the serial number denote the year and month of manufacture; however, the style does not match any known reference charts for their letter coding during these years.

Page last updated: 2 May, 2020