One issue that comes up at any inspection at a home that is not so new, is this: "Gee, just how old is the range, how old is the refrigerator, the microwave, the dishwasher?" You know the drill -- the buyer is curious as to the age of the household appliances. Sometimes the visual clues let you know that the appliance has seen quite a few years and that it's best days are behind it.
But other times it can be hard to tell just by looking. Home inspectors try to date water heaters, furnaces, boilers and A/C but when it gets down to the household appliances, most industry standards and, at least in this state, the state home inspection standards do not require us to report or speculate on appliances. That does not mean that many of us, at least in the Bellingham market, do not do so, but it does mean that we do not go into the same detail in reporting as on the mandated essentials.
We inspectors have all sorts of (and I really mean all sorts of and lots of) different charts for decoding the age of the appliances by model number and/or serial number. With some of the manufacturers, it is a real pain to wade through the charts because the date codes have changed several times over the years or someone else manufactured the appliance for the company whose name appears on the tag. Sears is a good example of that -- they buy their appliances from other manufacturers.
I was thinking the other day that realtors, who are often as interested in appliance ages as their clients, might like to know about the link below. This could be sent to clients in an Email. Or the agent, when inside a house, can simply jot down the manufacturer's model number and the serial number (you need both to make this work) and help his or her client instantly figure out the age on most of the household appliances. Now that is service with a smile!
Here is the cool little online appliance age calculator, put out by the Appliance411 Repair Clinic. Check it out, I think you will find it handy. Click on the link below and put the appliance data in at the appropriate place near the bottom of the page.
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