Water heaters are big, clunky and heavy, and they don’t last forever. It may take 15 to 20 years, but eventually, your trusty tank-style water heater is going to bite the bullet. And when it does, someone has to haul it out of the house and get rid of it. That someone is likely to find that it isn’t so easy to dispose of a water heater.

If you have a replacement professionally installed, the workers will usually haul away the old water heater as part of the job, but when you do the installation on your own, you’ll probably need a helper to carry the new tank. If no one’s around, you can still get the site ready by hauling the old one away, and in this post, we’ll show you how.

What to Do With an Old Water Heater

If your old water heater still works and you’re simply doing an upgrade, someone may jump at the chance to get a bargain. Consider selling it on Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace or some other online portal. If it doesn’t work, you can still advertise it, because scrappers are often eager to pick up free metal refuse to bring to recycling centers.

Of course, if no one is interested in your water heater, you’ll have to haul it to the recycling center yourself. If you don’t have a helper to carry it, here’s how you can do the job yourself without breaking a sweat.

Dispose of a Water heater By Cutting It Up

When you’re working on your own, the most efficient way to get an old water heater out of the house is to cut it into smaller pieces that you can carry. Before you do this, you have to disconnect the gas or electricity and drain the tank.

  1. Use a ferrous metal cutting blade on your circular saw. This process will involve sparks and potentially flying bits of metal, so use safety glasses, long sleeves, hearing protection and good work gloves.
  2. Lay the water heater on its side, set the circular saw against the metal, lift the blade guard and plunge the saw into the tank.
  3. Cut across the tank. When you can’t reach any farther, roll the tank and continue cutting.
  4. Once you’ve cut all the way around the tank, wait until the saw blade stops spinning before lifting it.

How and Where Do You Recycle a Water Heater?

Contact your recycling company. Some will pick up water heaters as part of their regular recycling pickup. Another option is bringing it to a recycling center yourself as scrap. Water heaters are made of steel and have copper and brass components. A recycling center will pay you a going rate for the metal.

If you don’t want to bother bringing it in, you can put part of it in your trash can (provided it fits) for one week and the other parts in subsequent weeks until it’s gone. Contact your garbage hauler for details. Many will also pick it up all at once if you contact them in advance.

FAQs

Can you donate an old water heater?

Sure. You can donate anything that someone else wants simply by not asking for money in return. If you’re wondering which organizations might be interested in a used water heater in working condition, there are several possibilities:

  • Habitat for Humanity;
  • Goodwill;
  • Salvation Army;
  • St. Vincent de Paul.

Are there any environmental concerns when disposing of a water heater?

Yes. According to Discount Dumpster, water heaters are banned from most landfills because they may contain hazardous materials. The insulation may contain asbestos, and pilot sensors on older units often contain mercury. Not only that, but a water heater takes up a lot of valuable space in a landfill. That’s another reason to cut the tank into pieces when you dispose of a water heater.

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Chris Deziel
Chris Deziel is a freelance service journalist who worked in landscaping and home improvement for more than thirty years. He has published over 10,000 how-to and expository pieces on home improvement and nature topics since he began writing in 2010. Deziel lives and works in an off-grid home in California where he enjoys recording original music an...
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Chris Deziel