Air conditioner disposal in Phoenix: window units, portables and old condensers

The short answer

Cooling equipment prices as listed items and the handling is included:

• Window AC Unit (Small, under 8,000 BTU) — $87
• Window AC Unit (Large, 8,000+ BTU) — $109
• Portable AC Unit — $85
• AC Condenser / Heat Pump (Outdoor Unit) — $115
• Dehumidifier — $77
• Space Heater — $33
• Ceiling Fan — $41

No refrigerant fee, no sealed-unit surcharge, no charge for carrying it down from an upstairs bedroom or out of a side yard. The visit minimum is $75.

Why the Valley generates so much of this

Phoenix runs its cooling equipment harder than almost anywhere. A system here works most of the year and works flat out for four months of it, and equipment that would last comfortably in a milder climate gets used up. The result is a constant stream of retired cooling hardware coming out of Valley homes: replaced systems, window units that carried a room the central air never quite reached, portables bought in a panic during a July outage, and the units that came with a casita or a converted garage.

Almost every household here has at least one. They accumulate in garages and side yards because nobody wants to throw out something that might be needed next summer — and then next summer it does not start.

The outdoor unit left on the pad

When a system is replaced, the old outdoor condenser or heat pump is supposed to leave with the installer. Often it does not. It ends up on the concrete pad in the side yard behind the block wall, or moved to the far corner of the lot, and it sits there.

That is a listed item: an outdoor AC condenser or heat pump is $115. It usually has to come out through a pedestrian gate or an RV gate in the block wall, which is fine and does not change the price. Tell us which side of the house it is on when you book so the crew stages the truck on the right side of the driveway.

If the new install also left a length of line set, old refrigerant line or the mounting rack behind, mention that too — it is small material that rides along.

Window units and the rooms they were bought for

Window ACs are a Valley fixture in specific places: older single-story homes in Maryvale, central Phoenix and parts of Mesa and Glendale where the central system is undersized for the back bedroom; converted garages and casitas; and rental properties near ASU in Tempe and GCU in west Phoenix where a tenant bought one and left it behind.

A small unit under 8,000 BTU is $87, a large one at 8,000 BTU and up is $109. They are heavier than they look and awkward to get out of a window frame safely, especially from a second floor. That is part of the job.

If two or three have piled up in the garage — which is the normal pattern — clearing them together is $87 + $109 = $196 for a small and a large, or add a portable at $85 for $87 + $109 + $85 = $281.

Portables, evaporative coolers and the rest

Portable ACs are $85. They are the impulse purchase of a Phoenix power outage or a failed compressor in August, and they end up in the garage within two summers because they are loud and they need a hose out a window.

Roof-mounted evaporative coolers are a genuinely Southwestern piece of equipment, common on older Valley homes, and when a house converts to refrigerated air the old cooler comes off the roof. Talk to us about that one specifically — roof work is a different kind of job and we will tell you plainly what we can take from the ground once it is down.

Dehumidifiers are $77. Less common here than in humid metros, but they show up in homes with a pool room or after a monsoon water intrusion.

What your city does with it

Cooling equipment with a sealed refrigerant circuit is handled differently from ordinary bulk material in a lot of programs, and every Valley city runs its own. Phoenix, Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert, Glendale, Peoria, Scottsdale, Tempe, Surprise and the rest each have separate rules, and some fringe addresses are unincorporated and not on a city program at all.

Look up your own city's current bulky-item page and read the appliance section specifically. Then check your HOA — an old condenser sitting on the driveway waiting for a collection cycle is exactly the kind of thing CC&Rs in Valley master-planned communities address.

Timing, because August is the wrong month

Cooling equipment fails in the heat, which means the pile of dead units in the garage grows in July and August and gets dealt with in November. That is fine, but there is a better version: clear last year's failures in the spring, before the new summer adds to them.

There is also a practical safety point. Handling a heavy window unit out of a second-floor frame at 110 degrees is a different job from doing it in February. If it is not urgent, it is worth waiting for the cool half of the year — and if it is urgent, that is what a crew is for.

How it works

Send a photo or list what is going. We quote it flat from the published catalog before you book, covering the crew, the removal from the window or the pad, the carry, the load and the disposal. Nothing is added afterwards.

Same prices everywhere in the metro, from Buckeye to Apache Junction. If the unit is behind a locked side gate or in a guard-gated community, let us know at booking so access is arranged.

Frequently asked questions