Vornado Air has recalled more than 255,000 of its SRTH small room tower heaters after the company logged 32 reports of the units overheating, including eight reports of fire. The voluntary action, announced on June 4, 2026 in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, warns owners to stop using the heaters immediately because the fan blade can detach from the motor shaft, choke off airflow and let the enclosure and internal parts melt. The recall notice is posted on the CPSC’s website, and Vornado has set up a dedicated page for the affected model.
Why a small heater triggered a large recall
Space heaters sit close to bedding, curtains and upholstered furniture, which is why a fault that ends in melting plastic is treated as a fire hazard rather than a nuisance. According to the CPSC notice, the heater’s fan blade can come loose from the motor shaft, producing a slow or stopped fan. When airflow drops, heat builds inside the housing until the enclosure and internal parts melt. If the thermal cut-off or fuse does not activate in time, the melted internal parts can ignite and breach the enclosure.
The scale of the recall reflects how long the product was on shelves. Vornado, based in Andover, Kansas, sold the heaters from August 2013 through May 2026, a span of more than a decade in which the same design reached hundreds of thousands of households. The units are small, roughly 12.5 inches high and about 6 inches in diameter, and were sold in black and white for between $40 and $50, an accessible price point that helped them move at volume through mainstream retailers.
This is also not the first time the SRTH line has been pulled. Vornado issued an earlier recall of portable SRTH small room tower heaters in 2023, documented in a separate CPSC notice. The recurrence of the same product family in an enforcement action is the kind of pattern regulators and consumers alike tend to watch closely.
What the reports actually show
Vornado told the CPSC it had received 32 reports of overheating tied to fan displacement. Within that total, the company cited eight reports of fire and one report of smoke inhalation. The notice does not describe the severity of the smoke-inhalation incident beyond that single reference, and no figure for property damage has been published in the recall announcement.
Owners can confirm whether they have an affected unit by checking the rating label. The model designation “TYPE SRTH” is printed on the silver rating label located on the bottom of the heater. The heaters were sold at stores nationwide, including Kohl’s, Bed Bath & Beyond and ACE Hardware, and online at Vornado.com and Amazon.com, so a purchase receipt is not required to identify the product in hand.
Because the failure mode is mechanical rather than a simple electrical short, there is no user-level fix. The CPSC’s guidance is to stop using the heater rather than attempt to reseat the fan or continue running it while monitoring for heat.
What owners should do next
The remedy is a full refund. Consumers are directed to stop using the recalled heaters immediately and contact Vornado for instructions on submitting photos of the product and proof of destruction. The proof-of-destruction step, common in recent CPSC recalls of online-sold goods, is meant to ensure the hazardous units are taken out of service rather than resold. Vornado’s SRTH recall page carries the current contact and claim details.
For anyone still relying on a portable heater as the weather turns, the practical takeaways extend beyond this one model. Heaters should be plugged directly into a wall outlet, kept clear of flammable materials, and never left running unattended or overnight. A unit that runs quieter than usual, cycles oddly or gives off a burning smell is worth unplugging and inspecting regardless of whether it is under recall.
What remains unresolved is whether the eight fire reports resulted in injuries beyond the single smoke-inhalation case, and how many of the 255,000-plus units are still in use versus long discarded. The CPSC recall database is the authoritative place to track any updates, and owners who register a claim will receive direct instructions from Vornado on the refund process.
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*This article was researched with the help of AI, with human editors creating the final content.
