How old is my Richmond water heater?

By Dana Whitlock. Updated October 2026. Official format.

Richmond is the name Rheem has put on its retail water heaters for decades, so a Richmond serial is dated exactly like a Rheem one. Before 2012, it's month, then year. From 2012 on, it's a factory letter, then week, then year. Either way, the year is the second pair of digits in the date block.

We mark Richmond as Official format, since Rheem publishes the layout for its water heater serials and Richmond tanks come from the same factories under the same system. Our decoder applies those Rheem rules to your Richmond serial and flags a 2012 or 2013 number that could fit either layout.

Where to find the label on a Richmond water heater

Richmond tanks have a rating label on the front of the jacket listing model, serial and ratings. Retail-installed tanks are often tucked into a garage corner or utility closet, so a flashlight helps. Read the label in place. No panel, burner door or element cover needs to come off. If the label has peeled or faded, the serial and model may be written on the installer's invoice or the warranty registration email.

How to read the code

Take an older Richmond serial in the classic 0189xxx style. The 01 is January and 89 is 1989; everything after is plant and sequence. A Richmond serial printed since 2012 instead opens with a letter: M, Q, A, W or C, standing for the Mexicali, Nuevo Laredo, Montgomery, Water Heater Innovations or Canada plants. Then come two digits for the week (01 to 53) and two for the year. Read that way, a date block of Q, 23, 18 points to Nuevo Laredo, week 23, 2018 (early June). Any short letter prefix in front of an old-style number is not part of the date and can be skipped.

Real serials in this code

When the format changed

The plant-week-year label rolled out across Rheem's factories starting in April 2012, plant by plant, which means a Richmond built in 2012 or 2013 may show either style. Spot the difference by the letter position: a letter in the middle after four digits signals the older month-year order, and a letter at the very start followed by four date digits and five more signals the newer week-year order. A two-digit value over 12 in the leading pair can only be a week. When it still looks unclear, newer labels print the manufacture date on line three, and Richmond's warranty lookup will return coverage for the serial.

Who makes Richmond

Rheem Manufacturing builds Richmond water heaters, and the Richmond website credits Rheem in its footer. A 1999 trade report noted that Rheem had by then been selling retail water heaters under the Richmond name for about 15 years. Rheem and Ruud tanks share the identical serial code, so instructions written for either brand work on a Richmond.

How sure is this?

Official format. Richmond publishes how its serial numbers encode the date. We tested the rheem rules against 17 serials, 13 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 Richmond's serial lookup before you spend money on the answer.

Quick notes

• Skip any letters before the first digit on an old-style serial; the month starts at the first digit.
• If the first digit pair reads above 12, that is a week, so the tank dates from 2012 or later.
• Register or verify a Richmond through Rheem's registration site, which has a Richmond page.
• Note the plant letter when you call for warranty help; it narrows down which factory built the unit.