How to get rid of a refrigerator in Houston

The short answer

Flat prices, carried out, disposal included, refrigerant handled properly at no extra charge.

Minimum $75 per visit. No stair charge, no same-day surcharge, no refrigerant fee.

The garage fridge

Nearly every house in this city has one. There are no basements here, so the second refrigerator lives in the garage — drinks, the overflow from a party, half a deer, a freezer full of things from three summers ago.

It is also the appliance most likely to have quietly died without anybody noticing, because nobody opens it weekly. And a dead refrigerator that has been closed in a Houston garage since spring is not a thing you want to open in a confined space. Open it outside, in the morning, with the doors facing away from you.

If it has been running for fifteen years in an uninsulated garage at Houston temperatures, replacing it usually pays for itself. The old one is $164 to remove, and it is a two-person carry down a driveway that almost always slopes.

Power outages and what comes after

The Gulf Coast loses power. After a serious storm a refrigerator or a chest freezer can sit warm for days, and what is inside it at the end of that is not something anyone wants to deal with. Every year a number of Houston households conclude, correctly, that the appliance is not worth saving.

If that is you: do not try to clean it out in an enclosed garage. Empty what you can outdoors, tape the doors closed, and book the removal. A chest freezer is $146 and an upright is $149, and that is the whole price.

Refrigerant — no extra charge here

Refrigerators, freezers, wine coolers, window units and heat pumps all contain refrigerant that has to be recovered by someone qualified before the metal is scrapped. That is a real regulatory step and it is why some haulers add a line for it.

We do not. The published price includes it. A standard refrigerator is $164 and that is the number.

It is also the reason you should ask any hauler what happens to the unit. An appliance dumped on a bayou access road with its refrigerant still in it is a specific kind of problem, and dumped household items in this metro are frequently traced back to the address they came from.

Before the crew arrives

Four things, none of them onerous.

• Empty it and remove any loose shelves or glass trays that are not fixed in place.
• Unplug it the night before if it still runs, and leave the door ajar so it defrosts and drains outdoors if you can move it that far.
• Tape the doors shut before the carry. Refrigerator doors swing open on a staircase, and that is how walls get damaged.
• Tell us if it is a built-in or counter-depth unit that has to come out of cabinetry.

If children are in the house, do not leave a disconnected unit with a working door latch sitting outside overnight. Tape it.

The free options, honestly

Scrappers. A refrigerator is a lot of steel and there is a deep scrap economy in this port and refining region. A unit placed visibly at the front of a house in many Houston neighborhoods will often go the same day. That is a genuine free option and it is worth trying if you have somewhere safe to put it and you are not in a hurry.

Retailer haul-away on delivery. If a new one is coming, ask whether the delivery crew takes the old unit. Many do. Ask before delivery day, and be clear about whether they will go down to a garage or only swap the kitchen unit.

Municipal bulky collection. Depends entirely on which city serves your address, and appliances with refrigerant are one of the most commonly excluded categories. Check your own city's current bulky-item page — and note that unincorporated Harris County addresses may have no municipal collection at all.

The carry

A full-size refrigerator is around three hundred pounds and it does not go round corners. Places it gets difficult in this city: down the two switchback stair runs of a three-story townhouse in Rice Military or EaDo; up the steps of a raised pier-and-beam bungalow porch in the Heights; along an exterior breezeway and down three flights at a garden apartment complex.

All of that is included. There is no stair charge and no walk-up fee. Tell us the floor at booking so the right number of people turn up.

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