How to get rid of old appliances in Pittsburgh

The short answer

Inside the City of Pittsburgh, stoves, washers, dryers and hot water tanks are accepted bulk items with your regular trash, limited to two items per week. Freon appliances, meaning refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners and dehumidifiers, are refused. For a flat pickup from any floor, JunkRabbit charges $133 for a washer, $128 for a dryer, $134 for an electric range, $137 for a gas range and $131 for a tank water heater.

What the City takes and what it refuses

The City's bulk program draws a clear line through the appliance aisle. On the accepted side are stoves, washers, dryers and hot water tanks, which go out with regular refuse after 6 p.m. the night before collection and before 6 a.m. that morning. On the refused side are freon appliances: refrigerators, freezers, window and portable air conditioners, dehumidifiers and similar units. Those contain refrigerant that has to be recovered before disposal. The two-item weekly limit is what catches people. A washer and dryer pair uses the whole week. If the water heater went at the same time, it waits until next week. In the suburbs, rules come from your own municipality's hauler. Mt. Lebanon's contractor accepts appliances curbside, with freon units only when they carry a sticker certifying the refrigerant has been removed. Check your borough or township's garbage page before setting anything out.

Most Pittsburgh appliances live in the basement

The laundry is in the basement in most older Pittsburgh homes, and often the water heater, the furnace, a second fridge and a chest freezer are too. With a City median build year of 1942 and many neighborhoods older still, those basements were not designed for appliance traffic. Stairs are narrow and steep, often with a low ceiling at the turn and no handrail on one side. A washer is heavy and awkward, with a drum that shifts as you tilt it. A tank water heater can hold sediment that makes it heavier than it looks. Then, in hillside neighborhoods such as the South Side Slopes, Mt. Washington, Troy Hill or Beechview, there may be a flight of outside steps between the front door and the street. Getting an appliance from a basement to the curb is the real job, and it is usually a two-person carry with a hand truck and straps.

Disconnect safely first

Before any appliance leaves the house, it needs to be disconnected properly. For a gas range or gas dryer, shut the gas valve and have the line capped; if you are not comfortable doing that, call a plumber or your gas utility. Never leave an open gas line. For a washer, turn off both water valves, disconnect the hoses and drain them into a bucket. A dishwasher has a water supply line and a drain line under the sink, plus an electrical connection that may be hard-wired. A tank water heater has to be drained and its gas or electric supply disconnected, which is a job many people hand to a plumber. Electric ranges and dryers usually just unplug from a heavy-duty outlet. Crews can carry out appliances that are already disconnected, but they do not do gas, plumbing or electrical work. Getting that done before the arrival window keeps everything on schedule.

Donation and scrap routes

A working appliance has two other exits. The Habitat for Humanity ReStore at the Swissvale Shopping Center lists appliances among the items it accepts and offers free donation pickup, subject to its own checks on age and condition. Newer washers, dryers and ranges in working order have the best chance. Older appliances that no longer run are mostly steel, and scrap metal outlets accept them; the Allegheny County Health Department's recycling directory lists scrap and specialty recyclers across the county. Scrap yards set their own rules and may refuse anything with refrigerant still inside. Selling a used appliance works if it is newer and you can wait, but the buyer still has to get it out of your basement. When JunkRabbit takes appliances, we try to donate usable items when local charities accept them, and we recycle whatever we can, which for dead appliances usually means steel recovery.

Flat appliance prices

A basement laundry pair is $133 + $128 = $261. A kitchen swap of a gas range, a dishwasher and a standard fridge is $137 + $109 + $164 = $410. A mechanical-room cleanout after an HVAC replacement, with a furnace and a tank water heater, is $131 + $131 = $262. No stairs fee applies.

Timing it with a delivery or a remodel

Most appliance removals are tied to something else: a new washer arriving, a kitchen remodel starting, a house going on the market or an estate being cleared. Retailers sometimes offer to haul away the old unit when they deliver a new one, which is worth asking about, though it may only cover the like-for-like swap and not the old basement freezer. For everything else, timing matters. Book the pickup for the day before a remodel crew starts, so the floor is clear. For a listing, get the basement emptied before photos. JunkRabbit works 7 days a week from 8am to midnight, with same-day pickup when you book by 4 PM, and you choose a 2-hour arrival window. Upload a photo or pick the items, see the flat total, and it only changes if you approve the change.

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