How to get rid of appliances in Washington DC

The short answer

Three steps, in this order.

1. Disconnect it properly. Water off and drained, gas capped by a licensed tradesperson, hardwired units isolated. This is the step that stalls jobs.
2. Check your jurisdiction. DC, Montgomery County, Prince George's County, Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church and Fairfax all handle appliances differently, and incorporated towns add their own rules. Look up your actual address.
3. Pick the route. Delivery haul-away if the unit is ground-floor and accessible; scheduled municipal collection if it qualifies and you can get it to the point; booked removal if it is upstairs, below grade, or you have a date.

Booked prices: refrigerator $164, washer $133, dryer $128, stacked washer/dryer $189, dishwasher $109, electric range $134, gas range $137, water heater $131.

Disconnecting, done properly

Most of the friction in DC appliance jobs happens here, not at the truck.

• Washer. Shut the supply valves, disconnect the hoses into a bucket, and run the drain out. A washer that has not drained leaks down a rowhouse cellar stair and onto whatever is at the bottom.
• Dryer. Unplug, or for gas, have the line capped by a licensed tradesperson. Disconnect the vent.
• Dishwasher. It is plumbed and wired under the counter. Have it pulled and disconnected before the visit or the crew is standing at a counter edge with nothing to lift.
• Range. Electric units on a 240V receptacle can be unplugged. Gas ranges need a licensed tradesperson to shut and cap.
• Water heater. Power or gas off, tank drained. A full tank is immovable, and DC rowhouse cellars are not where you want to discover that.

Which jurisdiction are you in, really

This metro breaks the assumption that there is one answer. The District runs its own collection. Montgomery County and Prince George's County run theirs, with Takoma Park, Rockville, Gaithersburg, Hyattsville, College Park and Greenbelt operating separately inside them. Arlington County, the City of Alexandria and the City of Falls Church are each independent. Much of Fairfax County is served by private subscription haulers, which means your rules are your hauler's contract rather than a county page.

What differs: whether appliances are taken at all, how many per request, how refrigerant-bearing units are handled, where the item must be placed, and how far ahead you must schedule.

Because people here move between jurisdictions every couple of years -- a rotation, a recompete, a new posting -- check the page for the address you are actually at.

The refrigerant group

Refrigerators, freezers, window and portable air conditioners and dehumidifiers go through a separate handling stream everywhere in the region, which is why they are the units most often refused by everyone else.

No refrigerant surcharge is added. Empty and defrost a freezer the day before -- meltwater on a stair is the one avoidable mess in this category.

Getting it out of a DC property

The carry is where this metro differs from most. Appliances here live in awkward places.

• Rowhouse cellar laundry. Capitol Hill, Petworth, Bloomingdale, Brookland. Narrow stair, usually a turn, low headroom. No below-grade charge.
• Upstairs closet laundry. Stacked units at $189, wedged into a closet framed exactly to fit. Comes out in two pieces.
• English basement kitchen. The exterior stair under the stoop is the only route. Say so when you book.
• Rear kitchen in a narrow rowhouse. The refrigerator has to travel the whole length of the house, through a 32-inch front door, and down the stoop.
• High-rise. Navy Yard, NoMa, Rosslyn, Ballston, Tysons, Bethesda. Certificate of insurance and a reserved freight elevator, produced at no charge.

Timing it against the DC calendar

Two seasonal patterns worth knowing.

Window air conditioners. Older rowhouses and pre-war apartment buildings across Adams Morgan, Mount Pleasant, Columbia Heights and Woodley Park run on window units, and they come out in autumn. A large unit is $109, a small one $87, a portable $85. Two large units together is $109 + $109 = $218.

Mini fridges in May. Georgetown, GW, Howard, American, Catholic and UMD College Park all release students in the same few weeks, and every other unit has one at $115. Book early in that stretch.

What the visit includes

• The carry, from any floor, including cellars and English basements.
• Transport and disposal or recycling, inside the item price.
• The insurance certificate a condo or management office requires, at no charge.

What it does not include: gas disconnection, electrical isolation of hardwired units, and plumbing work. Those are trades, and they go before the pickup.

A full kitchen swap in Silver Spring -- refrigerator, electric range, dishwasher -- is $164 + $134 + $109 = $407.

If the appliance still works

Working appliances have a reuse path worth trying first, particularly full-size refrigerators and laundry pairs that are only a few years old. Charities and reuse programs in this region take some of them, and condition is the deciding factor.

Where it is not worth pretending: a unit that stopped cooling, a washer that leaks, a dryer that no longer heats, and anything that has been sitting in a humid DC cellar since a previous owner. Those are disposal, and $164 or $133 is the honest price of making them go away on a date you pick.

Frequently asked questions