How to get rid of appliances in Chicago

The short answer

The minimum for a visit is $75. Refrigerant-bearing units are handled correctly and there is no separate refrigerant fee.

The Chicago problem is the stairs, not the appliance

Nearly every appliance in this city lives at the bottom or the top of something awkward.

Washers and dryers go in the basement, because that is where the hookups are in a bungalow, a two-flat or a graystone. Chicago basements have narrow stairs with a turn at the bottom, a low header you duck under, and frequently a door at the top that opens the wrong way. A dryer went down there on its side twenty years ago and it is coming up the same way.

Refrigerators are worse in the other direction. In a three-flat the kitchen is at the back, the back door opens onto the rear wooden porch, and the fridge leaves down a steep back staircase with short landings. Doors come off first, which is why we take them off.

None of this changes what you pay. There is no stair charge, no walk-up fee and no basement fee. A standard refrigerator is $164 from a garden unit in Pilsen and $164 from a third floor in Edgewater.

The delivery haul-away gap

The most common way Chicago households end up with two of something is the delivery that did not take the old one.

Haul-away is often offered, but it is conditional in ways nobody reads until the truck is in the alley: the old unit has to be disconnected, it has to be on the same floor as the entry, it has to be empty, and the crew has to have the time. In a three-flat with a back staircase, or a basement laundry, at least one of those conditions fails often enough that people plan around it.

When it fails, the old appliance goes to the garage or the back porch, and stays there. That is the single most common appliance we collect in this city: the washer in the garage next to the new washer's box, sitting there since the delivery.

Water heaters and furnaces

These get their own section because of when they happen. A Chicago water heater or furnace fails in a cold snap, the installer comes out fast, and the priority is getting heat and hot water back on. Taking the old unit away is the part that slips.

So it sits in the basement next to the new one, and it is still there in June. A tank water heater is $131 and a furnace is $131. If both went in the same bad winter, which happens more than it should in buildings where they were installed the same year, it is $131 + $131 = $262.

Cast iron radiators belong in the same conversation. A radiator is $123, and the moment a Chicago building converts from steam or gets a gut rehab, a row of them appears in the side yard or the alley. They are extremely heavy, they are worth flagging when you book so the crew brings the right people, and they are not a surcharge.

What to do before the crew arrives

• Disconnect it. Gas appliances should be shut off at the valve and disconnected by someone qualified. Water lines to a washer or dishwasher should be closed and the hoses pulled.
• Empty and defrost. A freezer with water in the bottom is a wet floor down two flights of back stairs. Defrost it a day ahead and towel it out.
• Leave the doors on until the day. If there are children in the building, tape the doors shut rather than removing them early. The crew takes them off as part of the carry.
• Clear the route. The basement stairs, the back porch landing, and the alley gate. That is the whole path.
• Move the car. If the truck is coming down the alley, the spot behind the garage needs to be free.

Does anything have resale value?

Sometimes, and it is worth ten minutes before you book.

A working front-load washer or a five-year-old French door refrigerator has a real secondhand market in this city, particularly around lease turnover at the start of May and October when people are furnishing apartments in a hurry. What kills those sales is the same thing that kills furniture sales here: the buyer sees the basement stairs and remembers a prior commitment.

A dead appliance has no resale value and it is not worth waiting on. If the compressor is gone or the drum bearing has failed, you are deciding how it leaves, not whether. Keep it simple and combine it with whatever else has been accumulating on the back porch.

Doing it in one stop

Appliances are heavy and you are paying for a truck and a crew to reach your address, so the efficient move is to send everything at once.

Basement laundry swap in a Logan Square two-flat. Washer at $133 and dryer at $128: $133 + $128 = $261.

Kitchen renovation in a Lincoln Square graystone. Standard refrigerator at $164, gas range at $137, dishwasher at $109: $164 + $137 + $109 = $410.

Mechanicals cleared from a Portage Park bungalow basement. Tank water heater at $131, furnace at $131, cast iron radiator at $123: $131 + $131 + $123 = $385.

If the list grows past that, the truck-fill steps take over at $241 for a quarter, $431 for a half and $732 for a full load.

High-rise units downtown and in Lakeview

If your appliance is coming out of a tower in River North, Streeterville, the South Loop or along the lake in Lakeview, the building comes first. Management will want a certificate of insurance naming the association and the management company, and the freight elevator reserved for a specific window, usually weekday business hours.

Those windows book out, so treat the elevator as the scheduling constraint and the truck as the easy part. Send the management contact when you book so the certificate goes to the right entity. The refrigerator is still $164.

Frequently asked questions