Reference · rating plate
Where the rating plate is, and what the six lines on it mean
Every question about an older Sub-Zero starts here. The plate settles the series, the age, the refrigerant and the parts list, and it is the one thing to have in front of you before picking up the phone.
| Family | Where the plate is |
|---|---|
| 500, 600, BI and Classic — over-and-under | Inside the refrigerator door, near the top door hinge |
| 500, 600, BI and Classic — side-by-side | Inside the freezer door, near the top door hinge |
| Classic — French door | Inside the left-hand door, near the top door hinge |
| All-refrigerator and all-freezer cabinets | Inside the door, near the top door hinge |
| 700 Series, and Designer tall and drawer units | Left of the upper drawer, inside the cabinet |
| Designer column (IC, DEC) | Middle drawer, on the drawer guide — the side opposite the hinge |
| PRO4850 and 648PRO | Left of the upper freezer drawer, inside the cabinet |
| PRO3650 | Left of the freezer drawer, inside the cabinet |
| Undercounter (UC) | Inside the cabinet, in the upper left area |
| Undercounter ice makers: UC-15I, 315I, 506, 235 | Inside, on the left side wall — on some older units, the right |
What to do with that
- 1 Open the door the table names. Not the nearest door. On a side-by-side the plate is in the freezer side, and people give us the refrigerator door for ten minutes before anyone notices.
- 2 Photograph it rather than transcribe it. A model line runs to a dozen characters with hyphens and slashes in it, and a slash read as a stroke of the pen is how the wrong part gets ordered.
- 3 Take the age off the plate, not off a decoder. A Sub-Zero plate prints the manufacture date. There is no public serial-number scheme to work through, and nothing to calculate — the date is simply there.
- 4 Note the refrigerant lines. Sub-Zero plates carry the refrigerant type and the charge. That pair decides what a sealed-system repair involves, and nothing else on the cabinet.
- 5 Note the total amps. The plate gives it. It is the figure an electrician needs when the question is whether the circuit the cabinet is on was ever right for it.
- 6 Give the model and the serial together. A parts desk matches on the pair. The model alone puts you in a family; the serial puts you at a revision inside it, which is where the fitting parts are.
Once you have the designation, take it to the series reference . The plate also names the refrigerant — what an R-12 line means . Model and serial together are what ordering a part actually needs.
Follow-ups
- My plate is unreadable. What now?
- It happens on cabinets that were painted around or steam-cleaned for years. The next best evidence is the original paperwork, the installer's invoice or the kitchen drawings. Failing all three, the series can usually be settled from the cabinet itself — the grille, the hinge type, the control panel and the compartment layout are all generation markers.
- Is the serial number the same as the model number?
- No, and they are not interchangeable. The model says what the cabinet is: a 650, a BI-36U, a 736TCI. The serial says which one it is, and it is what a parts desk uses to pick the right revision of a part. Sub-Zero prints both on the same plate, one under the other.
Checked against
- Sub-Zero serial tag locations Every location in the table above, and the list of what a tag prints: model, serial, manufacture date, refrigerant charge, total amps and refrigerant type.
- Sub-Zero model number key Which prefixes belong to which family — CL, BI, DET, DEC, DEU, IT, IC, ID, IW, PRO, 648PRO and UC.
Two ways in, and nothing to fill in
Give us the model number and what the cabinet is holding. That is usually enough to know which circuit is at fault before anyone is dispatched — and which parts belong on the van.