How to find the model number on any appliance

Nearly every support call, spare part and manual download starts with the model number. It is almost always printed on the appliance — just rarely where you would look first.

Model number vs serial number

The model number identifies the product line: every unit of that model shares it. It is what you need for manuals, spare parts and compatibility. The serial number identifies your individual unit and is what you need for warranty claims and recall checks.

On the rating plate you will often see both, plus a product number (PNC), E-Nr or type. As a rule of thumb: the model number mixes letters and digits and looks like a product code; the serial is longer, mostly digits, and often sits next to a barcode.

Where to look, by appliance

• Washing machine / tumble dryer — open the door and check the inner rim of the opening, or the underside of the lid. Also the back panel.
• Dishwasher — open the door and look along the side edge of the door itself, usually the right-hand side, or the top edge.
• Fridge / freezer — inside, on the side wall near the salad drawer, or on the ceiling of the compartment.
• Oven / cooker — open the door and check the frame edge; on built-in ovens it can be behind the bottom drawer or on the side of the pull-out unit.
• Hob — usually on the underside, so check the manual or the packaging first if it is installed.
• TV — a label on the rear panel, and almost always also in Settings under Support, About or System information.
• Laptop / tablet / phone — printed on the base in small type, and in the system information screen.
• Boiler — behind or below the front cover, often on the same plate as the GC number.
• Power tools and garden equipment — on the motor housing or under the handle, frequently moulded rather than printed.
• Vacuum cleaner — the underside of the body, or behind the dust bin.

When the label is unreadable

Rating plates fade, and steam kills them quickly in kitchens and bathrooms. A few things that still work:

1. Photograph it with the flash on, at an angle. Raking light picks up embossed characters that ink no longer shows.
2. Try the app or the settings menu on anything connected — smart appliances report their own model.
3. Look in the appliance''s own paperwork: the installation certificate, the delivery note, or the original order email.
4. Search the fragments you can read alongside the brand. Manufacturers use consistent prefixes, so three or four characters plus the appliance type often narrows it to one range.

Reading the code

Most codes are structured: a range prefix, then a size or capacity, then a variant and a market suffix. The suffix matters — the same washing machine sold in two countries can take different parts. When you order spares, match the full string including any trailing letters and slashes.

Write it down once

The moment to record a model number is when the appliance is new and the label is clean, not when it is broken and you are lying on the kitchen floor with a torch. Owned does this from a photo: take one picture of the product and one of its label, and it reads the code, confirms the exact model, and keeps the manual, the warranty and the parts list attached to it.