Who actually picks up old appliances in Richmond

The short answer

There are four routes, and they are not interchangeable.

• The retailer delivering the replacement — cheapest, but only on delivery day, and only for the item being replaced.
• A scrap metal collector — free or paid, but they pick the items and they set the schedule.
• Your county or city bulk program — rules differ across Richmond, Henrico and Chesterfield; check your own jurisdiction's page.
• A flat-price removal booking — any appliance, any floor, on a window you choose.

The flat prices: refrigerator $164, side-by-side or French door $183, washer $133, dryer $128, stacked washer/dryer combo $189, dishwasher $109, electric range $134, gas range $137, water heater $131, chest freezer $146, upright freezer $149, mini fridge $115, microwave $30. Visit minimum $75.

Route 1: the retailer, on delivery day only

This is the option people miss. When a new appliance is delivered, most retailers will take the old one away — but the offer usually exists only in that delivery window, only for the same category of appliance, and only if the old unit is disconnected and accessible when the crew arrives.

Two Richmond-specific catches. If you live in a Fan or Museum District upper-floor unit, delivery crews have a limited amount of time budgeted per stop, and a long stair carry can turn into a refusal. And if you are replacing a basement water heater in a Northside or Ginter Park house with a narrow bulkhead entrance, the delivery crew is there to install, not to solve the old unit's exit route.

If delivery day passes and the old appliance is still in the garage, this route has closed. Then you are choosing between the other three.

Route 2: scrap metal collectors

Scrappers drive Richmond neighborhoods and will happily take metal-heavy appliances — washers, dryers, ranges, water heaters — often for nothing. It is a real option and for a ground-floor or curbside unit it works.

Its limits are the ones you would expect. They choose what is worth their time, so a dishwasher or a non-working microwave frequently gets left. They will not come inside, and they certainly will not come down from a third-floor Fan apartment. They come when they come, which is no help if you have a closing date. And refrigeration equipment has handling requirements that a casual collector is not set up for.

Use scrappers for metal at the curb. Do not build a schedule around them.

Route 3: municipal bulk collection

The City of Richmond, Henrico County and Chesterfield County each run their own arrangements, with their own rules on what counts as a bulk item, how many per collection, how it must be set out, and whether appliances containing refrigerant are handled separately. Do not assume one set of rules covers the metro — check the bulk-pickup page for your own jurisdiction and look at the current requirements rather than what applied a few years ago.

What is universally true: it is curbside. If the appliance is in a basement, an attic, a second-floor kitchen or a Church Hill house up fifteen exterior steps, the program does not solve the part of the job you actually needed help with.

Route 4: flat-price removal

The distinguishing feature is that it works from wherever the appliance is standing, on a schedule you choose, with disposal already inside the number.

Where Richmond appliances actually live

The route you pick depends less on the appliance than on where it is sitting.

Second-floor Fan kitchens. Many Fan and Museum District rowhouses were cut into flats, which means a full kitchen upstairs and a staircase with a landing turn between it and the street. A fridge does not go round that turn upright; it goes on a stair dolly with two people and the doors sometimes off.

Northside and Ginter Park basements. Water heaters, chest freezers and second fridges live down there, reached by a bulkhead or a narrow interior stair. That is where a fridge from 1994 is still humming next to the furnace.

Short Pump and Glen Allen garages. The easiest jobs in the metro. Roll-up door, driveway, done.

Church Hill exterior steps. A raised basement and a long flight down to the sidewalk means even a ground-floor appliance ends with a descent.

Doing it yourself

Possible with a good appliance dolly, straps, and a second person who has done it before. A full-size fridge is manageable for two on level ground and genuinely dangerous for one on stairs — the weight is high and it shifts.

Disconnect properly before anyone touches it. Unplug and let a fridge or freezer defrost overnight so it is not leaking meltwater down a staircase. Shut the water off and drain the line on a washer or dishwasher. Drain a tank water heater fully — a full one is enormously heavier than an empty one. Gas ranges and gas water heaters should be disconnected by someone qualified; that is not a DIY step.

Then check the current gate rate and accepted-materials list at whichever facility you are using, since appliances are frequently handled separately from general waste.

Typical Richmond combinations

Appliances tend to leave in groups. Added up literally:

• Northside kitchen renovation: refrigerator $164 + electric range $134 + dishwasher $109 = $407.
• Laundry replaced in a Bon Air ranch: washer $133 + dryer $128 = $261.
• Fan flat, stacked unit swapped: stacked washer/dryer combo $189 + microwave $30 = $219.
• West End basement clear: chest freezer $146 + water heater $131 + mini fridge $115 = $392.

If the appliances are part of a bigger clear-out, compare against the truck ladder: quarter $241, half $431, full $732. You pay whichever is lower.

Frequently asked questions