How to get rid of a TV in Orlando

The short answer

Sizes are measured diagonally across the screen, which is the number on the box. A single television falls under the $75 per-visit minimum in the smaller sizes, so a lone 40-inch books as a $75 visit. A 65-inch plus its stand is $73 + $96 = $169.

Why Orlando kills televisions

Central Florida gets more lightning than anywhere else in the country, and the practical consequence for households is electronics failure. A nearby strike does not have to hit your house to put a surge down the line, and the things that die are the things plugged into both power and an aerial or cable feed — televisions first.

So the metro produces a steady stream of screens that were working fine on a Tuesday afternoon and were not by Tuesday evening. It is also why so many houses here have a surge protector strip behind every TV, and why the ones that do not replace sets more often.

The second local factor is the wet season generally. Humidity gets into anything in a garage, a screened lanai or an unconditioned Florida room, and a television stored in any of those for a summer usually does not come back.

Why the curb is the wrong place for a screen

Electronics are handled separately from household waste across most of this metro, and many collection routes will simply leave a television where it stands. Check your own city or county solid-waste page for the current electronics arrangement before you drag one out.

Then there is the weather. A flat panel put out in Conway or Azalea Park on a Monday gets that afternoon's thunderstorm. A screen that could have been handled cleanly is now cracked, waterlogged and leaking, and a broken panel face-down on a verge is a genuine hazard for anyone walking past.

In a deed-restricted subdivision it is worse again: a TV at the curb outside the permitted window is exactly what the weekly management drive-through photographs.

Old tube televisions

Still turning up constantly, usually from behind garage shelving in Ocoee, Union Park, Sanford or the older Kissimmee housing stock. A 27-inch CRT is far heavier than a 65-inch flat panel, the glass is dangerous if it breaks, and most casual routes will not accept one.

They price as a TV under 42 inches at $62. The only thing that matters is that two people carry it properly and it does not get dropped on a tile floor — which is precisely what you are paying for.

Wipe it before it leaves

Smart TVs hold accounts. Streaming logins, a linked payment method in an app store, sometimes a home network password. Factory-reset the set before the crew arrives — it takes two minutes in the settings menu and it is the one step people skip.

Three related things to check:

• Pull the streaming stick out of the HDMI port. It is the most commonly forgotten item in the house.
• Take the batteries out of the remote if the remote is going too.
• Unpair it from your phone or home assistant so it stops showing up as a device.

Wall mounts and lanai installs

Most televisions in this metro are on a bracket, and a good share of houses have a second one under a covered lanai or on a pool-deck wall.

Unbolt the bracket before the visit if you can, because taking a large panel off a wall is much easier with two hands free. Orlando houses are mostly concrete block, so the mount is usually into masonry with sleeve anchors rather than into studs — which means the bracket is solid, the holes are obvious, and you will want a plug and a dab of filler afterwards.

Outdoor sets: unless it was genuinely outdoor-rated, humidity gets inside the housing within a couple of summers and a corner of the panel grays out. Same prices apply, and mentioning it is mounted under a screen cage lets the crew plan the route rather than improvise around an aluminum frame.

Can you donate or sell it?

If it works and it is reasonably modern, yes — this metro has a constant flow of new arrivals furnishing apartments, so a functioning TV moves quickly on a free listing in the rental corridors along Semoran, Alafaya and John Young Parkway.

Reuse organizations are much pickier about electronics than about furniture, and most will not take a CRT at all. If the set is dead, do not waste a week on this step. A dead screen has no donation path anywhere.

Pairing it with the rest

Since each visit carries the $75 minimum, put the whole media wall on one booking. A 65-inch TV, an entertainment center and a box of old cables and consoles is $73 + $96 + $77 = $246. Compare that against a quarter truck at $241 and you would be quoted $241.

If a whole room is being cleared, the ladder almost always wins: a half truck is $431 and covers a great deal more than a media wall.

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