A Kenmore model number reads like 110.2xxxxxxx: three digits, a dot, then Sears’ own model code. Those first three digits are the source code. 110 marks Whirlpool-built laundry, 106 Whirlpool-built refrigerators and 665 Whirlpool-built dishwashers. 795 and 796 are LG-built refrigerators and laundry. 253 marks Frigidaire-built refrigerators and freezers, and 417 Frigidaire-built laundry. The tag also carries a serial number that dates the unit. It sits where builders usually put it: inside the door frame on dryers and front-loaders, under the lid or on the back of top-loaders, on an inside wall of a refrigerator and along the tub edge of a dishwasher.
Whirlpool-built Kenmores are the most common kind in Sacramento-area homes, and the most repairable. The 110 top-loaders include the long-running direct-drive 70 and 80 Series machines and the later Oasis high-efficiency models, and 110 dryers are Whirlpool dryers inside and out. The 106 refrigerators share defrost parts, fans, valves and ice makers with Whirlpool side-by-sides and French doors, and 665 dishwashers use Whirlpool’s sump, pump and filters. For all of these, Whirlpool parts and service knowledge apply directly, and the parts that fail most are often already on the van.
LG-built Kenmores tell a different story. The 796 front-loaders use LG’s belt-free direct-drive motor, a rotor on the back of the drum shaft with a stator behind it, and their codes read like LG’s own: OE for a drain problem, UE for a load the machine could not balance and LE for a motor fault. The 795 refrigerators follow LG designs, including their ice makers and compressors. Parts come through LG supply channels rather than Whirlpool’s, and diagnosis follows LG procedures. Treating one simply as a Kenmore, without checking the prefix, leads to wrong parts and wasted trips.
Frigidaire- and Electrolux-built Kenmores fill in much of the rest. The 253 refrigerators and freezers, including many of the top-freezers and upright freezers standing in Sacramento garages, share Frigidaire’s defrost systems, fans and controls, and 417 washers and dryers are Frigidaire laundry with a Kenmore face. Their failures follow Frigidaire patterns: evaporator fans, defrost components and start devices on refrigeration; door boots, drain pumps and bearings on front-loaders. Other Kenmore prefixes exist for ranges, microwaves and older products from other builders, and we look each one up before ordering anything.
