How old is my Luxaire furnace or air conditioner?

By Dana Whitlock. Updated October 2026. Widely documented.

The fourth character of a Luxaire serial tells you which era you're in. A number there means October 2004 or later, and characters two and four together give the year. Four letters in a row means an older unit. The third letter is the year, with a two-decade ambiguity that's usually quick to settle.

Luxaire is a contractor-sold brand built alongside York and Coleman, and it uses their serial scheme. Luxaire also offers an online lookup for registered products, which is one of the faster ways to confirm a real installation date.

Where to find the label on a Luxaire furnace

Furnace serials live on a rating plate inside the cabinet, behind the lower blower door. CPSC's 2001 recall of York, Luxaire and Coleman furnaces described the model and serial as sitting inside the removable front panel. Outdoor units carry the plate on a side panel near the electrical access. Switch the furnace off at the service switch before you open the door, and keep your hands out of the cabinet. A flashlight angled low across the plate makes embossed or faded print easier to read. Write down both the model and the serial; the model helps later when you price parts or a replacement.

How to read the code

Post-October 2004 Luxaire serials: plant letter, decade digit, month letter, year digit, then a six-digit sequence. A serial beginning W1E4 would mean Wichita, 2010s, May, 2014. Month letters skip I and J, so K is September and N is December. Pre-October 2004 Luxaire serials: plant letter, month letter, year letter, product letter, six digits. In WFKM003094, one of the serials in the 2001 recall, F is June and K is the year letter, which in that recall means 2001.

Real serials in this code

When the format changed

York changed the format in October 2004. An inspector who phoned the company's Unitary Products group was told the newer W0K5 style meant September 2005, which matches the current rule. The older year letters A through N repeat on a 21-year cycle, so K can mean 1980 or 2001 and N can mean 1983 or January to September 2004. Luxaire's warranty lookup is the cleanest tiebreaker if the original owner registered the unit. Otherwise use the refrigerant listed on the plate, the efficiency rating, or permits on file with your city.

Who makes Luxaire

Luxaire is one of three residential brands from the same York business, along with York and Coleman. Luxaire's own warranty page carries the copyright of JC Residential and Light Commercial LLC, the Johnson Controls unit that Bosch bought in a deal completed July 31, 2025. Luxaire equipment goes through its own distributors to independent contractors, so you will not find it at home centers. Parts usually cross-reference to York and Coleman equivalents.

How sure is this?

Widely documented. Luxaire doesn't publish this code; it comes from recall notices, service literature and inspector references. We tested the jci york rules against 35 serials, 8 of them with a date known from a recall notice, a printed label date or the maker. None decoded to a wrong year; codes whose year mark repeats show every possible reading. Always confirm with Luxaire's warranty page before you spend money on the answer.

Quick notes

• Luxaire's warranty site asks for model and serial; have both from the plate before you start.
• Registration had to happen within 90 days of install for the longer parts coverage, so an unregistered unit may only carry the shorter standard warranty.
• If you only need a rough age, the decade digit in a post-2004 serial gets you there in one glance.
• Older plates sometimes add a letter in parentheses before the serial; leave it out when you type the code into the tool.