Why it exists
Searching for a replacement part usually lands you on a retailer who wants to sell you something, or an article that restates the question. Neither tells you the part number on your model, and neither shows its working. The result is people ordering the close-enough part and returning it.
Every PartCaddy tool takes what you can read off the appliance — a model number, a printed size, an opening you measured — and returns the specific answer, alongside the table it came from. If the table does not cover your model, the tool says so rather than guessing.
Where the numbers come from
We do not invent reference data. Each tool ships a data file carrying its sources, the date it was retrieved, and an explicit confidence note. The main sources:
- US EPA / DOE ENERGY STAR open datasets (data.energystar.gov) — refrigerator, clothes-washer, clothes-dryer and combo dimensions and capacities. We compute the 10th percentile, median and 90th percentile per appliance type ourselves from the certified-model lists rather than repeating a marketing figure. The refrigerator tool draws on 2,244 certified full-size models; the laundry tool on three separate certified datasets.
- ENERGY STAR dehumidifier guidance — the sizing matrix is quoted verbatim, including the 2019 DOE re-rating that renamed a "70-pint" unit a "50-pint" one.
- InterNACHI Standard Estimated Life Expectancy Chart — appliance life expectancies, taken verbatim rather than paraphrased.
- US EPA indoor-air guidance — the 30–50% relative-humidity target, checked in three separate EPA publications.
- Jasco Products (GE / Philips / UltraPro) — universal-remote setup codes and both programming procedures, from the manufacturer's own support pages.
- Filterbuy and Aprilaire — filter replacement intervals, as published by the filter manufacturers.
- US Code of Federal Regulations — 16 CFR Part 1205 for the mower blade-stop requirement; IRC 2021 M1502 for dryer-vent run limits.
- ISO/IEC 24711, 24712, 19752 and 19798 — the standards cartridge page yields are declared under.
What we refuse to do
This is the part that matters, and it is why some of our tools answer a narrower question than you might expect:
- The mower tool ships no part numbers. We could not find a citable model-to-blade fitment index, so rather than publish a plausible-looking table we built a measuring guide instead. It tells you the five dimensions to take; it explicitly does not identify a part.
- The ink tool ships no page yields and no prices. Manufacturer sites blocked automated retrieval, so instead of transcribing numbers we cannot stand behind, the calculator uses the yield printed on your own box.
- Humidifier sizing has no standard. There is no AHAM or ENERGY STAR equivalent for humidifiers, so we model it from a moisture balance with the assumptions stated on the page, and report a range rather than a false single figure.
- We do not reproduce whole code books. The remote tool ships a deliberately limited subset of setup codes alongside the programming procedure and a link to the manufacturer's full list.
- We say when coverage is thin. Only 34 of 147 certified full-size front-load washers publish a height, so every dimension row carries its own sample count instead of smoothing it over.
How the tools work
Every calculation runs in your browser. Nothing you type is sent to a server, stored, or logged — there is no account, and the tools work with the network off once the page has loaded. The reference tables are embedded in the page, which is also why you can read them yourself and check our arithmetic.
What is enforced, and what is a promise
Some of the commitments on this page are checked automatically every time the site is built — if one fails, the deploy stops rather than going out. As of today thirteen invariants are enforced that way, including: no advertising or affiliate link may render above a tool's answer; affiliate links must carry a sponsored tag; every cost tool must state it is an estimate rather than financial advice; every data file must carry a source, a review date and a limitations note; the mower tool must contain no part numbers and the ink tool no page yields or prices; every page must be in the sitemap, linked from another page, and carry a self-referential canonical.
Everything else on this page — the sourcing hierarchy, how we handle uncertainty, how we respond to corrections — is an editorial commitment, not something a script can verify. We have kept the two apart deliberately.
Corrections
If a part number is wrong, a dimension has changed, or a source has been updated, tell us and we will fix it. Contact details are on the contact page. Every tool shows the date its data was last reviewed.
How we make money
PartCaddy is free. Some links to retailers are affiliate links, which may earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. They appear only after your result, never before it, and they never change what the tool tells you — the answer is computed from the reference data before any link is rendered. See terms and privacy for the full disclosure.