How to get rid of an old TV in Salt Lake City

The short answer

Size is measured on the screen diagonal, not the cabinet, which matters for old CRT and rear-projection sets that are mostly cabinet. A TV and the stand it sat on is $68 + $96 = $164. Two sets cleared at once is $68 + $62 = $130. Minimum visit is $75.

You cannot bin a television

Televisions are not general household waste. Screens and boards contain materials that do not belong in a landfill cell, and older CRT sets contain leaded glass in the tube, which is the reason they are handled as a separate stream everywhere. Bin services across the valley will refuse one, and most bulky-waste arrangements exclude them too.

If you want to do it yourself, check your own city or county e-waste guidance for the current drop-off arrangement before you load anything. Do that call first, not after you have wrestled the set up the basement stairs.

The Salt Lake basement theatre

Finished basements are the norm in this valley in a way they are not in much of the country, and for twenty years the natural thing to put in one was a big television. So a very large share of the TVs we remove here are not in a living room. They are in a basement family room in Millcreek, Holladay, Sandy or South Jordan, at the bottom of a staircase, often with the room finished around them.

Rear-projection and early plasma sets from that era are enormously heavy for their screen size — far heavier than a modern panel of the same diagonal — and they have no handles anywhere. They are the single most common item people have already tried and failed to move themselves, usually once, usually with a neighbor, usually in about 2019.

The carry up is included. A set over 65 inches is $73 whether it is in a ground-floor front room in Rose Park or at the bottom of a turning staircase in a 1915 house on 3rd Avenue.

Wipe it before it leaves

A modern smart TV holds your streaming logins, your account details, and sometimes your home network credentials. Factory reset it and sign out of every service before the pickup. Do the same for any streaming stick left plugged into the back — people forget those constantly, and they are the item most likely to still be signed in.

We do not wipe data and you should not rely on anyone who says they will. Two minutes in the settings menu is the whole job.

Selling and donating: be realistic

A working flat panel from the last few years genuinely sells on KSL Classifieds in this market. The trick is one photo of it switched on and displaying something, because every buyer assumes a used TV is broken. Include the model number and the screen size in the title.

What does not move, at any price: CRT sets, rear-projection sets, early plasma, anything with a picture fault, and anything with a cracked screen. Charity shops across the valley generally decline old televisions outright — they take up floor space and do not sell — so do not load one into the car on spec. If it is more than about eight years old or does not switch on, it is a removal item.

Getting it off the wall

Wall-mounted sets need two people. One takes the weight, the other releases the bracket, and the weight is always more than the person holding it expected. A 65-inch panel is awkward rather than heavy, and it is also fragile — the panel flexes and cracks if you carry it flat or set it down on a corner.

• Unplug everything and pull the cables free before you lift.
• Lift it off the bracket straight up or straight out, depending on the mount type — check which yours is before you pull.
• Carry it upright, never flat.
• Leave the bracket on the wall if you like, or take it off and add it to the box of electronics.

If it is above a fireplace or on a stairwell wall, leave it and tell us when you book.

Bundle it with the rest of the room

The TV is rarely the only thing going. A basement family room refresh in Sandy: TV over 65 inches $73 + entertainment center $96 + sofa $126 + coffee table $67. $73 + $96 = $169. $169 + $126 = $295. $295 + $67 = $362. Against a three-eighths truck at $338, the truck fraction wins — worth the thirty seconds it takes to check.

A home office clear at the same time: monitor $58 + box of electronics $77 = $135 added to the same visit, with no second minimum to pay.

Frequently asked questions