Who picks up old appliances in Indianapolis?

The short answer

Minimum visit $75. A $30 microwave on its own bills at the minimum; paired with anything else it is $30.

Your options in this metro, ranked by hassle

• Delivery haul-away. If a new fridge or washer is being delivered, ask the retailer to take the old one. It is usually an option you select at purchase, not a default, and it generally requires the old unit to be disconnected and accessible.
• Scrap. Central Indiana has plenty of scrap yards and plenty of people who drive the alleys looking for metal. You can get a steel appliance to a yard yourself if you have a truck and a ramp.
• Bulk pickup. Depends entirely on who hauls your trash, which varies by address in Indianapolis. Appliances are usually restricted or excluded.
• Flat-price pickup. Published number, out of the basement, no disconnection heroics on your part.

The basement laundry problem

In most Indianapolis houses built before about 1960, the laundry is in the basement. Bungalows in Irvington and Garfield Park, foursquares in Meridian-Kessler, doubles on the Near Eastside, ranches in Devington and Eagledale — washer and dryer at the bottom of a steep, narrow stair, often with a turn at the landing.

A washer weighs a couple of hundred pounds and is a smooth-sided box with nothing to grip. It goes up on a strap, slowly, with one person below it the whole way. That is exactly the job people call about, and it is exactly the job a rented truck does not solve.

A pair is $133 + $128 = $261. A stacked unit is $189 because it comes out as one piece.

Refrigerant, and why fridges are handled differently

Refrigerators, freezers, window AC units, portable ACs, dehumidifiers and outdoor condenser units all contain refrigerant, and refrigerant has to be recovered by someone certified to do it before the metal gets recycled. That is federal, not local, and it applies whether you are in Zionsville or Beech Grove.

Practically it means two things for you. Your curb is not a legal disposal route for a fridge in most cases, and the scrap yard may decline it or discount it if the refrigerant has not been dealt with. The flat price covers the recovery and the recycling run, which is why a fridge costs more than a dresser that weighs the same.

One favor: empty it and leave the doors open for a day before pickup. A chest freezer in an Indianapolis basement that lost power in a summer storm and sat for two weeks is a genuinely memorable object.

Water heaters, furnaces and the utility corner

Water heaters come out of basements here constantly, usually because a tank finally let go onto a concrete floor. A tank unit is $131. It must be disconnected — water and gas or electric — by a plumber or by you before it goes anywhere. We are not shutting off a gas line; that is not a junk-removal job.

Same rule for a furnace or an outdoor condenser. Get it disconnected by a trade first, then the removal is straightforward. An outdoor AC condenser or heat pump unit is $115, and they are frequently the last thing left after an HVAC replacement in a Castleton or Greenwood ranch, sitting on the pad next to the new one for six months because nobody wanted to deal with it.

The deep freeze, the garage fridge and the March discovery

Two appliances exist in Indianapolis houses that barely exist elsewhere in the same numbers: the basement deep freeze and the garage beer fridge. Both are usually twenty-five years old, both run all winter, and both get discovered as dead in March when somebody finally opens the detached garage after the cold.

Chest freezer $146. Upright freezer $149. Mini fridge $115. If the garage is detached and sits on an alley off Guilford, Ritter or Audubon, the truck can generally get right to the door, which makes it a fast stop.

Adding up a kitchen or a utility room

• Full kitchen replacement in a Broad Ripple bungalow: standard refrigerator $164 + electric range $134 + dishwasher $109 + countertop microwave $30 = $437.
• Basement utility corner, Meridian-Kessler: washer $133 + dryer $128 + water heater $131 + dehumidifier $77 = $469.
• Garage clear-out, Fishers: upright freezer $149 + mini fridge $115 + lawn mower $65 = $329.
• After an HVAC job in Greenwood: AC condenser $115 + large window AC $109 = $224.

Every figure is from the published list, and the totals are plain addition.

Frequently asked questions