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How old is my Tappan appliance?
Type the serial number from the Tappan label to see when it was built. Tappan units are built by Electrolux, so the serials follow that company's format.
Reading a Tappan serial number
Tappan is an Electrolux brand. Its serials use the Frigidaire code: year digit third, then the week.
About Tappan
- Tappan sold the first microwave oven for the home in 1955, using a patent licensed from Raytheon.
- Electrolux bought Tappan in 1979, seven years before it bought White Consolidated and Frigidaire.
- Tappan was a range and microwave maker based in Mansfield, Ohio.
Sources: The microwave oven: from accident to household essential - Electrolux Group, White Consolidated Industries Inc. History - FundingUniverse, Tappan (brand) - Wikipedia
Electrolux plant, product, year digit and week
Used 1986 to today. Example: 3F91400621
The first character is the plant and the second letter is the product type. The third character is the last digit of the year, and the fourth and fifth are the week. The decade is not in the serial, so one code fits a year in each decade.
Worked example: VF71042765 fits Week 10 of 1987 (around March) or Week 10 of 1997 (around March) or Week 10 of 2007 (around March) or Week 10 of 2017 (around March). The page above explains how to tell which.
The full lookup tables are on the Electrolux page, since Tappan uses the same code.
Sources: Electrical-Forensics: Electrolux date codes, Building Intelligence Center: Frigidaire