Finding an Appliance Part Number

So your appliance is broken. What now? Fixing it is almost always better than buying a new one, because it can save you money and save that appliance from the landfill. If you can identify which part is faulty, then dealing with that individual part is the best solution. Whether you buy a part directly from the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), buy a remanufactured part (often the more economical option) from a company such as CoreCentric Solutions, or use a repair service such as CoreCentric’s Return for Repair (RFR) service, you will need to know the part number beforehand.

There are a lot of numbers on every board. There are labels for individual components, date codes, part revisions, and different numbering systems for each manufacturer as well as within the manufacturer itself. Unfortunately there is no standard, so you are going to have to do some troubleshooting, and work off of these guidelines to find the right digits.

1.      Look for labels not directly printed onto the board. 

A good clue for finding a part number is if it is on the label. You can also see in this example that the label says, “GEA Part No.” so the part number (also called a control number) should be fairly easy to find.

2.      Avoid the date code. One of the most common errors for the novice part number finder is to mistake the date code for the part number. For the part pictured above, the part number is easily laid out, but for other parts, there will be no indication as to which number is which function. Date codes are often shorter, and may have certain letters and number standing in for years or months. The format of the date codes can change depending on the manufacturer.

3.      Identify Patterns – Try to find similarities between these part numbers and the numbers on your board.

            Bosch        -    486752 -> 6 digits

16-10-623 -> 2 digits – 2 digits – 3 digits

Frigidaire -     5303272309 -> 9 or 10 digits

GE              -    WB27T10611 -> Often starts with W and another letter, eg: WB, Wh, WE, WR, etc.    

                        336282 -> 6-7 digits

Whirlpool -    6610269 -> 7 digits

These are just a few examples. Your board might have a different numbering system altogether.

4.      If you find that your online search for the part number comes up empty, then you may have the wrong number or your part might be no longer available (NLA). If you think that your part is NLA, consider using CoreCentric Solutions’ Return for Repair service. You can search your part number on the Return for Repair price list and have CoreCentric Solutions repair your part in only 2-4 business days.