How to find your washing machine’s model and serial number

Why the number matters more than it used to

A fault code is only half the address. Beko run two washing machine platforms with two different code tables, so E5 is a blocked filter on one and E05 is a temperature sensor on the other, and the model number is the only way to know which you have. Bosch machines show the same fault as E18 on a three-digit display and as a two-part code such as E:30/-80 on a newer Home Connect display. Samsung renamed their whole table from codes ending in E to codes ending in C between generations. And the Hotpoint and Indesit door lock recall applies to specific serial ranges within each listed model, so the checker needs both numbers before it can answer.

The model number also fixes the manual, the parts list and the warranty. An engineer who has it before the visit arrives with the right part.

The three places to look

The plate is a sticker or a thin metal label, usually silver or white, carrying the model, the serial number, the electrical rating and a barcode. AMDEA — the trade body behind Register My Appliance — gives its standard position for washing machines and tumble dryers as inside the door, at the entrance to the drum, and that is where to start.

1. Open the door and look at the rim of the opening. Check all the way round, including the top and the hinge side, and the inside face of the door itself.
2. Open the pump filter flap at the bottom front of the machine, if there is one. Several manufacturers put a plate inside that housing.
3. Look at the kick plate, the strip along the bottom front, which on some machines unclips.
4. The back of the machine, as a last resort. Pulling a machine out risks the hoses and the floor, and on nearly every current model the plate is reachable without it.

Once you have found it, photograph the whole plate rather than copying one number, because the plate carries several and you will not know until you need them which one a particular form is asking for.

Brand by brand

Bosch, Siemens and Neff. Bosch UK say the model number can usually be found on a label on the inner rim of the door, visible when the door is opened, and sometimes behind the filter door or on the back of the appliance. The number Bosch call the model number is the E-Nr, and their parts and repair systems also ask for the FD number, which is a date code printed alongside it. Both are on the same plate.

Samsung. Samsung say the serial and model numbers of a front-loading machine are on a label inside the washing machine door, and of a top-loader on the back. Samsung's service documentation on tag positions adds a secondary tag at the rear left of the cabinet, which is the one to look for if the door label has worn.

Hotpoint and Indesit. The rim of the door opening first, then behind the filter flap or the kick plate. Neither brand publishes a plate-location page of its own; the Guernsey Trading Standards notice on the recall tells owners to read the model number off the rim of the door, and UK parts suppliers describe the same positions. Two things about the number itself. Hotpoint model numbers end in suffix letters that carry meaning — parts suppliers say the final letter denotes the colour — so copy the whole string, including anything after a space or a dot. And parts suppliers ask for the first two digits of the serial number as a date code, so keep the serial with the model.

Beko. Beko say the model and serial number are on the silver rating plate found by opening the door and looking on the internal rim, and they publish a visual guide alongside that FAQ. The model number is what tells you which of Beko's two code tables applies to your machine.

LG. On the door or the door frame, visible with the door open. LG plates often carry a separate product code alongside the model number, and parts suppliers use that code to identify the exact build, so photograph both.

Miele. Miele publish a plate finder that shows the position with a diagram for each type of appliance rather than describing it. Open the door and look at the frame of the opening first, then behind the pump flap at the bottom front. Miele label the fields on the plate as product type, material number and serial number, and the product type is the model.

Zanussi, AEG and Electrolux. Inside the door opening. These machines carry a long product number, usually beginning with 9, alongside the model, and the manufacturer's own parts and support systems key on that number rather than on the model name, so keep both.

Hoover and Candy. Inside the door opening or behind the filter flap. On Hoover's Smart Touch and One Touch machines, an Android phone held against the logo on the panel reads the fault directory off the machine by NFC through the Hoover Wizard app, and the app identifies the machine as part of that.

Reading the plate

Look for the word Model, Mod., E-Nr, Type or PNC, and copy the string next to it exactly, including spaces, slashes and dashes. The serial number is separate, usually longer, and labelled Serial, S/N or SN. Ignore the barcode digits and anything that reads as an electrical rating.

If the plate has gone — worn by years of detergent, or peeled off — the manual and the purchase receipt both carry the model number, and the retailer's records carry the serial. Most manufacturers can also identify a machine from a photograph of the front panel.

Once you have it

Register the machine at Register My Appliance, which links through to the manufacturer's own registration page and is how you would be told about a safety repair. If it is a Hotpoint or Indesit built between October 2014 and February 2018, run the door lock recall check before anything else. Then, when you look up the code, look it up against the right table for your model — the brand hubs on this site say which document each page is quoting.

Sources

Plate positions are the manufacturers' own where they publish one: Bosch UK, where to find the model number; Samsung's support pages on finding the model and serial number of a washing machine, and their service documentation on secondary tag positions; Beko UK's FAQ on the rating plate; and Miele's plate finder. The standard position for laundry appliances is from Register My Appliance. The recall's requirement for both numbers is from the Whirlpool model checker and the Office for Product Safety and Standards. The Hotpoint suffix and date-code conventions, and the Electrolux-group product number, are as UK parts suppliers describe them; those manufacturers publish no plate-location page of their own that we could find, and the positions given for them are the ones their manuals and the recall notices describe.