You want to know how much a fridge is worth for scrap? The simple answer is not very much, maybe between $10 and $50 on average, but this can change a lot. The exact amount you get for an old fridge recycling price depends on several things like its size, the type of metal inside, where you live, and the current metal prices for appliances. It also matters if you take it apart yourself or sell the whole thing to a scrap yard. Selling broken fridge for scrap can be tricky because of costs like the cost to remove refrigerant and the appliance disposal cost. This post will explain everything so you can try to get the most money.
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What Makes Up a Fridge?
To know the scrap refrigerator value, you first need to know what a fridge is made of. A fridge is a big box with many parts. Most of its weight comes from metal, but it also has other materials.
- Steel: This is the main material. It makes up the outer body and inner parts. Steel is a common metal. Its scrap value is usually low compared to others.
- Copper: This is a valuable metal found in the cooling system. Copper is used in coils and wires. It’s a key part that adds value to the value of copper in fridge when scrapped.
- Aluminum: You might find aluminum in coils too, or in shelves and drawers. Aluminum is lighter and worth less than copper but more than steel.
- Plastic: Fridges have lots of plastic. This is used for the inner lining, door shelves, and other parts. Plastic has little to no scrap value. Scrap yards often charge you to take the plastic away.
- Insulation: Foam insulation fills the walls to keep the cold in. Like plastic, this has no scrap value and costs money to handle.
- Refrigerant: This is a special gas or liquid inside the cooling system. It makes the fridge cold. Refrigerant is bad for the air if it gets out. It must be removed safely by a trained person. This is a big cost.
Grasping the Value of Metals in Appliances
The price you get for scrapping an appliance like a fridge comes mostly from the metal inside. Metal prices change often. They go up and down based on global markets.
How Metal Prices Work
Scrap yards buy metal by weight. They have different prices for different types of metal.
- Ferrous Metals: These are metals that contain iron. Steel is the main ferrous metal in a fridge. You can check if a metal is ferrous with a magnet. If a magnet sticks to it, it’s ferrous. Ferrous metals are common. Their price per pound or ton is much lower than non-ferrous metals.
- Non-Ferrous Metals: These metals do not contain iron. Copper and aluminum are non-ferrous. A magnet will not stick to them. These metals are less common. Their price per pound is much higher than ferrous metals. This is why the value of copper in fridge is important.
Scrap yards have different rates. They might pay more for clean metal (just metal, no plastic or other stuff) than for mixed metal. A whole fridge is considered mixed metal with lots of other stuff. This lowers the scrap yard refrigerator price for the whole unit.
Calculating the Potential Scrap Refrigerator Value
How do you figure out what your old fridge recycling price might be? It’s not just about the metal prices. You need to think about the weight and the costs.
Estimating the Weight
The weight of a fridge scrap value is a main factor. Fridges are heavy. Their weight depends on their size and type.
- Small Fridges (Mini-fridges): These weigh maybe 50 to 100 pounds.
- Medium Fridges (Top-freezer): These can weigh 150 to 250 pounds.
- Large Fridges (Side-by-side, French door): These can weigh 250 to 400 pounds or even more.
Most of this weight is steel. Only a small part is the more valuable copper or aluminum.
Figuring Out Metal Amounts
Inside a typical fridge, you might find:
- Steel: 70-80% of the total weight.
- Plastic/Insulation: 15-20% of the total weight.
- Non-ferrous metals (Copper, Aluminum): 5-10% of the total weight.
The exact amount of copper can vary. Older fridges might have more copper than newer ones. Energy-efficient models might use less metal overall.
Doing the Math (A Simple Example)
Let’s say you have a fridge that weighs 200 pounds.
Assume current scrap prices are:
* Ferrous Scrap (Steel): $0.05 per pound
* Non-Ferrous Scrap (Mixed Copper/Aluminum): $1.50 per pound (This is just an example; pure copper is higher, mixed is lower)
Let’s guess the metal breakdown:
* Steel: 150 pounds (75%)
* Non-Ferrous: 10 pounds (5%) – This is where the value of copper in fridge comes from. The rest is plastic, insulation, etc.
Value from Steel: 150 pounds * $0.05/pound = $7.50
Value from Non-Ferrous: 10 pounds * $1.50/pound = $15.00
Total Potential Metal Value: $7.50 + $15.00 = $22.50
This $22.50 is the potential value of the metal if it were already separated. A scrap yard won’t pay you this much for a whole fridge. They have to pay for the work to take it apart and handle the non-metal parts.
The Costs of Selling Broken Fridge for Scrap
Getting money for your old fridge is not as simple as just taking it to the scrap yard. There are costs involved that often eat up the metal value.
Cost to Remove Refrigerant
This is a major cost and a legal requirement. Fridges use special chemicals (refrigerants like Freon or newer types) to cool things down. These chemicals are harmful to the Earth’s ozone layer and climate. By law, these must be taken out by a certified technician before the fridge is scrapped or recycled.
- Who Does It? Appliance repair shops, HVAC technicians, or specialized recycling centers can do this.
- How Much Does It Cost? The cost to remove refrigerant can range from $50 to $100 or even more, depending on where you live and who does the work. This cost is often more than the scrap metal value of the fridge itself.
- Why Is It Needed? Scrap yards and recycling centers will not take a fridge with the refrigerant still inside. It’s illegal for them to do so without proof it’s been removed.
Appliance Disposal Cost
Even after removing the refrigerant, there’s still the cost of disposing of the parts that aren’t valuable metal, like plastic, foam, and glass.
- Scrap Yard Fees: Many scrap yards will charge a fee to accept a whole fridge. This fee covers their cost to handle the non-metal waste and the labor to take the fridge apart. The fee might be $10, $20, or more. Some places might waive the fee if metal prices are very high, but this is rare for fridges.
- Recycling Center Fees: Dedicated appliance recycling centers charge a fee for drop-off. This fee covers refrigerant removal (if they offer it) and processing all the materials.
- Bulk Waste Pickup: Your local trash service might offer pickup for large appliances, but they almost always charge a special fee for it. They may or may not handle the refrigerant properly. You need to check their rules. This appliance disposal cost varies widely by location.
Transportation Costs
You need to get the fridge from your home to the scrap yard or recycling center.
- DIY: If you have a truck or trailer, you can move it yourself. Your cost is just gas and your time.
- Hiring Help: If you need to hire someone to pick up the fridge and take it away, this will cost money. Junk removal services charge for this, often $50-$150 or more depending on your area and the number of items.
Fathoming the Scrap Yard Refrigerator Price
When you take a whole fridge to a scrap yard, they don’t just weigh the metal and pay you the current price. They look at the whole item.
What Scrap Yards Pay For
- Mixed Metal: They see a fridge as mostly mixed ferrous metal with some non-ferrous parts and a lot of trash (plastic, foam, wires, glass).
- Deducting Costs: The price they offer you (if any) is the potential value of the scrap metal minus the costs they will have for:
- Paying a certified person to remove the refrigerant (if they do it).
- Paying workers to take the fridge apart.
- Paying fees to dispose of the plastic and foam waste.
- Their own profit margin.
Typical Payout
Because of these costs, the scrap yard refrigerator price for a whole unit is usually very low.
- You might get paid a few dollars (maybe $5-$20) if metal prices are good and the fridge is easy to handle.
- Often, they will charge you a fee ($10-$30) to take the fridge.
- In many cases, the payment is zero. They take it for free, and you save the cost of hiring someone to haul it away or paying a disposal fee elsewhere.
So, the “payout” is often not cash in hand, but rather saving the cost you would have paid for disposal.
Deciphering How to Scrap an Appliance
If you want to try to get more money, you could think about taking the fridge apart yourself. This is part of how to scrap an appliance for better value.
Safety First!
Taking apart a fridge can be dangerous.
- Heavy Parts: Doors, shelves, and the whole unit are heavy.
- Sharp Edges: Cut metal can be very sharp.
- Electrical Parts: Even unplugged, some parts might have stored energy (though less likely in an old fridge).
- Refrigerant: This is the biggest danger. DO NOT cut into the cooling lines (the copper or aluminum tubes) unless you are certified to handle refrigerants. Releasing these chemicals is illegal and harmful.
Steps for DIY Scrapping (After Refrigerant Removal)
If you have paid a certified person to remove the refrigerant and gotten proof, you can then take the fridge apart safely for materials.
- Remove Doors: Make the fridge safe, especially if kids are around. Remove the doors so no one can get trapped inside.
- Take Out Inner Plastic: Remove shelves, drawers, and the plastic inner lining. This is mostly waste.
- Cut Away Insulation: The foam insulation is between the outer metal shell and inner plastic. Cut or scrape it out. More waste.
- Separate Metal Shell: You are left with the outer steel box. This is your main ferrous scrap.
- Access Cooling System: Behind panels (usually at the back or bottom), you will find the motor (compressor) and the metal tubes (coils).
- Extract Valuable Metals:
- Copper Coils: These are often found in the freezer section and at the back. They look like bent tubes. Cut these out.
- Aluminum Coils: Some fridges use aluminum instead of copper for some coils.
- Compressor: The black motor. It has copper windings inside. Scrap yards buy compressors whole, or you can break them open (hard work, wear safety glasses!) to get the copper. This is a key part of the value of copper in fridge.
- Wires: Power cords and internal wiring contain copper. Strip the plastic coating off wires to get clean copper, which is worth more.
- Sort Materials: Keep your steel in one pile, copper in another, aluminum in a third. Get rid of all plastic, foam, glass, and rubber.
Weighing and Selling Separated Metals
Once you have separated the metals:
- Weigh Each Type: Use a scale to weigh your piles of steel, copper, and aluminum.
- Find Scrap Yards: Call local scrap yards. Ask for their current prices for “prepared steel” or “light iron”, “clean copper” (or #1/#2 copper, depending on what you have), and “clean aluminum”.
- Sell: Take your sorted metals to the scrap yard. They will weigh them and pay you based on the current prices.
Is It Worth It?
Taking apart a fridge is hard, dirty, and takes time.
- You might get $10-$30 worth of separated metals from a fridge, depending on prices and how much non-ferrous metal is inside.
- Remember you still have to pay for refrigerant removal first ($50-$100).
- You also have to pay to dispose of the large amount of plastic and foam waste. Many trash services or landfills charge for this.
- Add in your time and effort.
For most people, taking a fridge apart is not worth the small amount of extra money they might get, especially after paying the cost to remove refrigerant and disposal fees. It is often easier and sometimes cheaper just to pay a disposal fee or find a scrap yard that takes it for free.
Factors Affecting the Scrap Refrigerator Value
We’ve talked about metal prices and costs. Here are other things that change the scrap refrigerator value:
- Size and Weight: Bigger, heavier fridges have more metal, mainly steel. This means a higher weight of a fridge scrap value from the steel, but also more plastic and insulation to deal with.
- Age of the Fridge: Older fridges might have more copper. Very old ones (before the 1990s) used different, often more harmful, refrigerants that cost more to remove.
- Type of Fridge: Side-by-side or French door fridges are bigger and heavier. Simple top-freezer models are smaller.
- Location: Scrap metal prices vary by region. Prices are often higher in industrial areas. Disposal costs also vary greatly depending on local rules and services.
- Market Prices: Metal prices change daily. What a fridge is worth one week might be different the next. This impacts the metal prices for appliances you get.
- Condition: Whether the fridge works or is broken doesn’t matter for scrap value. Scrap yards only care about the materials.
- Refrigerant Status: If you can prove the refrigerant was properly removed, some places might pay a little more or charge less of a fee.
- Who You Sell To: A scrap yard buys materials. A general junk removal service charges for convenience and may not pay you anything. An appliance recycling center focuses on proper disposal and usually charges a fee.
Comparing Options: Scrapping vs. Other Choices
Selling broken fridge for scrap is one option, but it’s not the only one for an old fridge.
Repair It
If the fridge just needs a small fix, repairing it might be cheaper than replacing it. It also creates no waste.
Sell or Give Away If Working
If the fridge still works, even if old, you can sell it cheap or give it away. Put it on local online marketplaces. Someone might need a second fridge for their garage or basement. This is often the best option financially if it works.
Donate
Some charities accept working appliances. Call around to see if any nearby take working fridges.
Appliance Buyback or Exchange Programs
Sometimes, utility companies or stores offer programs where they pick up your old energy-hog fridge when you buy a new one. They might even give you a small payment or discount. These programs ensure the old fridge is recycled correctly, including safe refrigerant removal. Check if these are available in your area.
Professional Junk Removal
You can hire a company to just take the fridge away. This is the easiest option, but you will pay for the service. They handle the moving and disposal, which includes the appliance disposal cost and refrigerant removal.
Comprehending Old Fridge Recycling and Environment
Recycling an old fridge is important for the environment, even if you don’t get much money from it.
Why Recycling Matters
- Keeps Metal Out of Landfills: Metal can take hundreds of years to break down. Recycling saves space in landfills.
- Saves Resources: Making new metal from old metal uses much less energy than making metal from raw materials. This saves coal, oil, and other resources.
- Reduces Pollution: Making new metal creates pollution. Recycling creates much less.
- Handles Harmful Substances: Proper appliance recycling ensures refrigerants and other toxic materials (like mercury in some older switches) are removed safely and destroyed or managed. This prevents them from harming the air, water, and soil.
When you take a fridge to a proper recycling center or a responsible scrap yard, they follow rules for removing harmful substances and separating materials for reuse. The old fridge recycling price you might get is often less important than knowing it’s being handled right.
Tips for Maximizing Your Payout (or Minimizing Cost)
Given that the cash payout for scrapping a fridge is often small or zero, the goal is usually to get rid of it legally and safely for the lowest possible cost.
- Call Around for Prices: Don’t go to the first scrap yard you find. Call a few. Ask for their current scrap yard refrigerator price for a whole unit. Ask if they charge a fee. Ask if you need to remove the refrigerant first.
- Ask About Refrigerant Service: Some scrap yards or recyclers have a certified person on site or a service they use. Ask about the total cost for drop-off including refrigerant removal. Compare this total cost to hiring a separate technician and then taking the fridge somewhere.
- Check Local Programs: Call your city or town’s waste department. Ask about bulk trash pickup for appliances. Ask about special appliance recycling events. These local options might be free or low-cost. Ask if they handle refrigerant removal.
- Consider DIY Stripping ONLY If You Are Able: If you are very handy, have the right tools, and can safely handle it (AFTER certified refrigerant removal!), stripping copper and aluminum can increase the metal value. But weigh the time and effort against the small potential gain. Remember the disposal cost for the non-metal parts.
- Find a Scrapper Who Picks Up: Some independent scrappers with trucks look for old appliances. They might take it off your hands for free. This saves you the effort and cost of moving it. They make their money by scrapping the metal. Make sure they are handling the refrigerant properly – ask questions. A responsible scrapper will ask if the refrigerant has been removed.
- Timing Metal Sales: If you do strip the fridge yourself, watch metal prices. Sell your copper and aluminum when prices are higher. Check metal prices for appliances online or by calling scrap yards.
Comprehending Weight and Value
Let’s look again at the weight of a fridge scrap value. A standard full-size fridge might weigh 250 pounds. At $0.05/pound for steel, that’s $12.50 in steel value if it were all steel. But much of that weight is plastic, foam, and the compressor. The copper content might be only a few pounds, but copper prices are much higher, perhaps $3-$4 per pound for clean copper. So, 3 pounds of copper is worth $9-$12.
Total metal value might be $20-$30. But the cost to remove refrigerant is $50-$100. The cost to get rid of 50+ pounds of plastic and foam is another cost. This shows why the scrap yard refrigerator price is so low, or why there is often a fee. The value of copper in fridge is important, but it’s a small part of the total weight and is costly to get out safely.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is an old refrigerator worth at a scrap yard?
Usually, very little, or they might charge you a fee. You might get $0 to $20, or pay $10 to $30 to leave it. It depends on current metal prices and their disposal costs.
Do scrap yards take appliances with refrigerant?
No, almost all scrap yards legally cannot accept appliances like fridges or air conditioners unless the refrigerant has been removed by a certified technician. You must provide proof.
Is it worth it to scrap a fridge myself?
For most people, probably not. While you can get more per pound for separated metals like copper, the cost to remove the refrigerant ($50-$100+), the effort and time to take it apart, and the cost to dispose of the non-metal waste usually mean you spend more money and time than you make. Selling broken fridge for scrap this way is a lot of work for little payout.
What is the value of the copper in a fridge?
A fridge might have 2-5 pounds of copper in its coils and compressor. Copper prices change, but at $3-$4 per pound, this is $6-$20 worth of copper. This is the most valuable metal part, but it’s difficult and costly to access and remove safely.
What is the cheapest way to get rid of a broken fridge?
- Check if your city or town has a free bulk pickup service or appliance recycling event.
- Find a scrap yard or recycling center that takes fridges for free (they cover the refrigerant and disposal costs themselves, factored into their business).
- Find an independent scrapper willing to take it for free.
Paying a fee ($20-$50) to a transfer station or recycling center might be the next cheapest option if free services aren’t available. Hiring junk removal is the most convenient but most expensive.
What is the appliance disposal cost?
This varies a lot. It can range from a free pickup by a local program to $20-$50 at a transfer station, up to $50-$150 or more for a professional junk removal service. This cost includes dealing with the waste and the refrigerant.
How much does it cost to remove refrigerant from a fridge?
This service typically costs between $50 and $100, sometimes more, when done by a certified technician.
What is the weight of a fridge scrap value based on?
The total weight matters for the steel value, but the smaller weight of the higher-value non-ferrous metals (copper, aluminum) is more important for the potential scrap value. However, disposal costs for the majority weight (plastic, foam) reduce the payout significantly.
In Summary
Selling an old fridge for scrap is rarely a way to make significant money. The scrap refrigerator value is usually very low, often less than the costs needed to handle the unit properly. The main value comes from the small amount of copper inside, but the cost to remove refrigerant safely is high. Appliance disposal cost for the plastic and foam also reduces any potential payout.
Instead of focusing on making money, think about responsible disposal. Check local city programs, find a scrap yard that takes fridges for free, or use a certified appliance recycling center. If the fridge still works, selling or giving it away is usually the best option. When considering how to scrap an appliance, especially a fridge, prioritize safety and following environmental rules over trying to maximize a small cash payout. The metal prices for appliances like fridges simply aren’t high enough, given the composition and handling requirements, to make them valuable scrap items as a whole unit.