Air conditioner disposal in Houston

The short answer

Minimum $75 per visit. Disposal included, refrigerant recovery included, no stair charge.

Why there are so many of these in Houston

Air conditioning here is not seasonal equipment, it is life support. Systems run from roughly March to November and work hard the whole time, which means they wear out faster than they do in a milder climate and get replaced more often.

Then there is the supplementary layer. Older bungalows in the Heights, Montrose and the East End were built before central air and many still carry window units in back rooms. Garage conversions and back-house apartments across the inner loop run on window or mini-split units. Garden apartment complexes replace window units constantly. And every household that has ever lost power in August owns a portable unit bought in a panic.

All of it eventually needs taking away, and all of it contains refrigerant.

Refrigerant, included

Window units, portables, condensers and heat pumps all contain refrigerant that has to be recovered by someone qualified before the metal goes to scrap. It is a real regulatory step and a real cost, which is why some haulers put a separate line on the invoice for it.

We do not. The published price includes it. A window unit is $87 or $109 by size, an outdoor condenser is $115, and those are the numbers.

This is also why a dumped air conditioning unit is a more serious problem than a dumped sofa, and why it is worth asking any hauler where the unit is going. Illegal dumping along this metro's bayou access roads and vacant lots is a persistent issue, and household items are frequently traced back to the address they came from.

Window units and the weight of them

A large window unit is heavier than it looks and it is mounted in an opening at chest height or above, often supported by a bracket that has been outside through several Houston summers. Brackets corrode. Screws seize. Sash frames on old bungalows are soft.

Do not take one out alone from an upper floor. One person supporting the weight while another releases the mounting is the right way to do it, and it is exactly the sort of task a crew does routinely and a homeowner does once every eight years.

If it is already out and sitting in a hallway, say so at booking — it makes the visit quicker.

The outdoor condenser

The unit on the slab beside the house. When a system is replaced, the installing contractor normally takes the old condenser with them — ask, because it is included in many installation quotes and you should not pay twice.

When it does get left behind, it is usually because the work was done by a previous owner, or because a unit was replaced years ago and the old one was shoved round the side of the house and forgotten. Those are $115 to remove.

Two Houston-specific notes. Condensers on ground-level slabs in flood-prone areas frequently get replaced after water, and the drowned one sits beside the new one indefinitely. And in areas where copper theft is a concern, a disconnected unit sitting beside a house is an invitation — deal with it rather than leaving it.

Dehumidifiers

A genuinely Houston appliance. Households run them in garages, in closed-off rooms and in the wake of a flood, and they die regularly because they run continuously in conditions that never let up.

A dehumidifier is $77. If yours has been sitting unused with water in the reservoir since last summer, empty it outdoors before the visit — a standing reservoir in this climate is not something anyone wants to open in a hallway.

Free routes and what they will not do

Scrappers will often take a window unit or a condenser left at the front of a house, because there is recoverable metal in both and this region has a deep scrap trade. That is a legitimate free option. Check your own city's rules before staging anything at the front — the jurisdictions in this metro differ and some only want items out in a collection window.

Municipal bulky collection is the least reliable route for these. Refrigerant-containing appliances are among the most commonly excluded items in bulky programs, so check your own city's current page before you count on it. If your address is in unincorporated Harris County, there may be no municipal collection at all.

Frequently asked questions