Any way i can fix this heater myself . it's out of warranty (2 years old)
Dust on the inside of the unit can cause the overload switch to shut many vornados down. Blowing the dust out of the unit with compressed air or a blower may help.
Another problem that causes vornados to stop working (light on - no heat no fan) is when one of the bearings starts to go bad in the unit. This causes the fan to be slower and less effective and the unit’s inability to move the heat away from the thermal overload switch again causes it to shut down.
Though you could remove the front and rear bearings and try to get replacements if it's even replaceable ... Once the bearing starts to go bad there is little that can be done ... HOWEVER, here is one solution to get more life out of the unit.
First, use a blower to blow all the dust out of the unit.
Then, because it is typically the front bearing that goes bad first, lay the vornado on it’s back (so the unit would be blowing air up toward the ceiling), this will relieve the front bearing somewhat and rely more on the rear bearing which tends to last longer.
The vornados I’ve had are all thermistor units ... that is, they don’t just turn on and off when the set temp is reached but in fact slow themselves down (both heat and fan) to keep some level of air circulation in the room. This is a good thing by the way.
There are usually two toggle switches .... one is a heat switch - usually Low & High .... the other is the thermistor switch (this sometimes is labeled “fan”) - usually Auto & High.
Once the unit is on its back ... Now, change the settings as follows:
Turn the Heat switch to LOW
Turn the Fan switch to HIGH
Turn the dial (with the temperature in degrees on it) to the lowest setting - which is somewhere around 60’ish.
Now turn the unit on and it should stay working.
Three things that could cause it to turn back off ...
You turn the Fan switch back to Auto.
You turn the Heat switch back to High
You turn the temperature selection dial too high ... though, you can cautiously turn the dial up a few degrees at a time ... the unit will start shutting down again when you set the temp too high ... then just dial it back down ... unplug for a couple minutes, then turn back on.
Finally someone who knew what the problem was and how to fix it. I've been searching for days for an answer. Thank you. To be honest it didn't work, but now at least I know not to spend any more time on this heater. It worked better than it has when I tried anything else. I think the reason it didn't work is because I had already done this quite by accident several times and it worked briefly using this method, but I guess I was just a little late in finding the info about how to set the temp, fan, etc. Might have had it working a little longer had I known earlier. It's at least nice to now know what the problem is with it. Again, thanks.
These units have a set of points that open up when the element temperature gets "too hot". They are located in between the 2 rows of elements. Seems not to be much of a fix for a heater if the fix won't allow it to heat! High speed fan and low temperature is "the fix"? I think the fix is replacing or modifying the way the points work or making sure the fan is turning at the correct speed... ad that fluff and dust is not blocking airflow by the points.
I used electronic cleaner on all boards etc,after I blew them out with air., waited 10 minutes and wah-lah! . Last yr they would shut down when turned to high, now both working fine.
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These units have a set of points that open up when the element temperature gets "too hot". They are located in between the 2 rows of elements. Seems not to be much of a fix for a heater if the fix won't allow it to heat! High speed fan and low temperature is "the fix"? I think the fix is replacing or modifying the way the points work or making sure the fan is turning at the correct speed... ad that fluff and dust is not blocking airflow by the points.
now have found 3 Vornado heaters with the exact same problem and sadly the company isn't interested in fixing their mistake (phone calls saying I need to ship it to them and pay them to fix it) .... in solving their problem: Bad thermisters. This is the torpedo looking thing above the points. Once it's blows (like a fuse) the light will come on, but they'll be no current to the fan or heating element. My fix was to cut the thermisters out and use solder as a bridge accessed the black wires that they connect. This is a most imperfect fix... if fluff and particulates get sucked in and cause overheating the result could be bad. So this is a fix for someone that's willing to blow out the dust now and then.. and watch to see when the fan doesn't turn around immediately.
The older units (dark gray) had serviceable felt-oil-able bearings in front and back... the new ones are totally sealed.
The original one I fixed has gone on to work perfectly for 5 years now. I just keep my eye on it.. as everyone should do with every heater.
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