Fixing a Vornado tower fan

Our ceiling fan has been limping along after a power outage, so I decided to try a Vornado tower fan.

I bought the QZI42DC fan, which is 42″ high, has variable speeds, and optional rotation. Plus a remote control. It’s been great in our bedroom.

So I bought a second one for my office. Looked great, put the base on easily, and… no air movement. Couldn’t figure out what was going on, but it was noisy, and I could see that the fan blades weren’t moving.

Turns out that the set screw that holds the blade piece onto the motor axle hadn’t been correctly tightened, so the two pieces separated. Figuring out how to fix it was fairly simple, once I figured out which screws to take out. The image shows both the hidden screws and the separation of the fan blades from the stem.

Ignore everything on the bottom of the device. What you are looking for is 4 somewhat hidden screws in the back housing. Take them out, take off the housing (carefully, it’s somewhat brittle plastic), loosen the set screw, put the blades back on the axle, tighten up the set screw again, replace the housing, and viola! Fan works.

The only tool you need is a long small Phillips screwdriver (long enough to get from the outside of the blades to the set screw in the center of the device.