Who picks up old appliances in Philadelphia?

The short answer

A washer and dryer pair is $133 + $128 = $261. The per-visit minimum is $75, so a countertop microwave on its own would fall to the minimum — worth bundling with something else.

Your four options in Philadelphia

• Delivery haul-away. If you are buying a replacement, the retailer will often take the old one. It is usually the cheapest route. The catch in this city is the same one every time: most delivery crews take from the point of delivery, not from a basement, and plenty will not go down a hatchway or up to a third-floor kitchen in a converted row home. Ask specifically before you count on it.
• Utility or municipal recycling. There are periodic appliance recycling and rebate programs in the region, and they are genuinely worth checking. Availability, eligibility and what they accept all change year to year, so look at the current program details rather than what was true last time. They tend to require the unit at an accessible location.
• Scrap collectors. Philadelphia has plenty of people driving pickup trucks looking for metal, and a fridge on a Kensington or Frankford pavement often disappears fast. Fine for the metal, less good for accountability — you will not know where a refrigerant unit ended up.
• Flat-price removal. $164 for the fridge, from wherever it currently sits, disposed of properly, on a date you choose.

The Philadelphia basement problem

In most of this city the laundry is in the basement. The basement in a South Philly, Point Breeze or Pennsport row home is typically reached by a steep straight-run staircase with low headroom, or in the older stock by an outside hatchway with steps built for someone carrying a coal scuttle in 1912.

A washer weighs enough that two people take it seriously. Getting one up a hatchway with a concrete lip at the top, on a wet day, is how people hurt their backs. That work is inside the $133, and so is the part where nobody puts a heel through the plaster on the way up.

The same goes for a tank water heater at $131. They are almost always in the basement, they are heavier than they look, and the old ones hold residual water.

Gas ranges and the row-home kitchen

Gas cooking is the default in a lot of Philadelphia's older housing, and a gas range is $137 against $134 for an electric one. Two things to sort before the day:

• Disconnection. The gas line needs to be shut off and capped by someone qualified. That is not part of a junk removal visit. Have it done first.
• The kitchen doorway. Philly kitchens in row homes are frequently at the back of the house, in the narrowest part, sometimes in a rear addition with a step down into it. A range comes out on its side more often than not.

A dishwasher at $109 needs the same treatment on the water and drain side — uncoupled, and preferably pulled out before the crew arrives if you want the visit to be short.

Window air conditioners

Philadelphia has an enormous population of window units, because most row homes were never ducted. Every September a lot of them come out of windows for the last time.

Small units under 8,000 BTU are $87 and larger ones are $109. A portable floor unit is $85. If you are on a second or third floor, leave it in the window until the crew is there — pulling a heavy unit out of a sash on your own, over a narrow pavement where people walk, is the wrong kind of exciting.

These count as refrigerant appliances and should be handled accordingly rather than put out with bagged trash.

A typical Philadelphia appliance job

Basement laundry replacement in Grays Ferry. Washer $133 + dryer $128 = $261, both carried up the basement stairs.

Kitchen refit in Fairmount. Refrigerator $164 + gas range $137 + dishwasher $109 = $410.

End of a long tenancy in Mayfair. Standard fridge $164 + chest freezer from the basement $146 + large window AC $109 = $419.

If a whole kitchen is coming out along with cabinets and worktops, it may be simpler to price the load by volume: a half truck is $431, three quarters is $587, a full one is $732. Laminate worktop sections are $56 each and stone sections are $111 if you would rather itemize.

What you should do before the crew arrives

• Empty and defrost the fridge or freezer. A Philly basement chest freezer that has been running for twenty years holds more water than you think.
• Have gas, water and drain connections professionally disconnected.
• Unplug everything and coil the cords.
• Clear the staircase or hatchway route, especially the top step and the bulkhead doors.
• Tell us which floor it is on and whether the basement is inside-access or hatchway-only, so the right crew size turns up.

None of that changes the price. It just makes the visit take twenty minutes instead of an hour.

Frequently asked questions