Who picks up old appliances in Houston?

The short answer

Try the free routes first if you have a few days and somewhere safe to put the unit. Book a pickup if it is upstairs, in the attic, in a garage behind a gate, or if you need it gone before a walkthrough on Friday.

Our flat prices: washer $133, dryer $128, stacked combo $189, dishwasher $109, electric range $134, standard refrigerator $164, chest freezer $146, tank water heater $131. Minimum $75 per visit, disposal included.

1. Scrappers — free, fast, and real here

Houston sits at the center of a port and refining economy with a long-established scrap trade, and large white goods are mostly steel. An appliance placed visibly at the front of a house in a great many neighborhoods in this city will be gone within a day, sometimes within an hour.

Two caveats. They take metal and they leave everything else, so a scrapper will happily remove the washer and leave the particleboard cabinet next to it. And tape the doors shut on a refrigerator or freezer before it goes out, especially if there are children on the street.

Check your own city's rules before staging anything at the front — jurisdictions across this metro differ, and some do not want items out except in a collection window.

2. The delivery crew bringing the new one

Free, if you ask in advance. Most retailers offer haul-away on a like-for-like delivery, and it is the least effort of any option because it happens while they are already there.

Ask before delivery day and be specific about location. Many crews will swap a kitchen refrigerator but will not go up a pull-down ladder for an attic water heater, down to a garage for the second fridge, or up two flights in a townhouse. Get that answer before the truck is scheduled, not on the doorstep.

3. Your city's bulky collection

This depends entirely on which of the metro's many jurisdictions serves your street — the City of Houston, Bellaire, West University Place, Pearland, Sugar Land, Missouri City, a Katy-area city, or nobody, if you are in unincorporated Harris County with a MUD-contracted hauler.

Appliances containing refrigerant are among the most commonly restricted categories in bulky programs generally, and rules on placement and timing differ. Read your own city's current bulky-item page rather than a neighbor's advice from a different ZIP.

4. Charities and reuse

Worth a call if the appliance actually works. Reuse organizations in this metro take working white goods, and a functioning washer or refrigerator going to a household that needs one is a much better outcome than any recycling stream.

Two things determine the answer: does it work, and will they collect from where it is. Most will not send a crew up a flight of stairs or into an attic. Call before you plan anything around it.

5. A paid pickup

What you are buying is location independence and timing. The appliance comes out of the attic, the garage, the second-floor laundry room or the third-floor townhouse, on a day you chose, with the refrigerant handled and the disposal paid.

Doing several at once is just addition: washer and dryer $133 + $128 = $261; refrigerator, electric range and dishwasher $164 + $134 + $109 = $407. If the list runs long, compare against the truck ladder — quarter $241, three-eighths $338, half $431 — and take whichever is lower.

The order we would actually try

• First: new appliance coming? Ask the retailer about haul-away. Free, zero effort.
• Second: does it work, and is it at ground level? Call a reuse charity. Free, and the best outcome.
• Third: is it metal, at ground level, and are you not in a hurry? Stage it at the front within your city's rules and let a scrapper have it.
• Fourth: is it in the attic, in a garage, upstairs, dead, or needed gone by a specific date? Book it.

Most Houston appliance calls we take are the fourth kind, and the reason is almost always the attic or the garage.

Frequently asked questions