The notoriety of office chairs as explosives started after YouTuber PewDiePie made a video on exploding chairs. The first person to experience this was a Chinese woman who was dying her hair, sitting on a computer chair that exploded and ended up seriously injuring the woman.
So, technically office chairs can potentially explode. However, it is a rare occurrence. The reason why this may happen is owed to the gas cylinders that are present in the height adjustment feature of office chairs. These gas cylinders are prone to explosion, but the manufacturing protocols and regulations ensure that this does not happen.
No matter how rare an event, the knowledge of it makes us worry that what if someday, while we’re engrossed in work, the chair under us just explodes! To put your mind to ease, this article will discuss the functioning of the perpetrator in the discussion, i.e., the gas cylinders in office chairs and why office chairs explode.
The main culprit behind office chair explosions is the pneumatic gas cylinder, so let’s see what exactly happens that makes it explode. This cylinder is located inside the rod that makes the base of an office chair. It is present in most ergonomic, gaming, and traditional office chairs. Its main purpose is that of adjustment.
Since ergonomic and gaming chairs are all about comfort, they allow customization that helps you find the best angle for sitting. This customization comes in the form of a height adjustment mechanism that allows users to adjust the height of the seat according to their desk or gaming table. Considering the technicalities, the gas cylinder exerts pressure to allow this adjustment, and when the canister is compressed, there is energy produced that can at times be an onset of an explosion.
Let’s consider in detail how office chairs and the pneumatic cylinders inside them actually work.
We don’t really pay much attention to the science behind our actions when we are adjusting a chair to find the best position. The pneumatic system, functioning beneath the plastic rod at the base of the chair, contains springs that are coiled together with the aid of compressed nitrogen gas. The gas allows the pressure that creates enough power to lift or lower the weight of the chair. This part of a chair requires lubrication that allows fluid adjustments. Now let’s really get into the real science that details the inner workings of a pneumatic cylinder.
We normally remain unaware of the functioning of the gas cylinder because we do not directly interact with it. All we do is manipulate the lever to move the chair’s seat up and down. However, this can also be potentially dangerous because we don’t pay attention to when the gas cylinder requires replacement or lubrication.
The word explosion itself is scary since it is associated with destruction. It literally means violently shattering or loud combustion resulting from high pressure. A common feature of explosions is that the force shatters and scatters things in all directions, causing not just the explosive material but also the surrounding items and people considerable damage.
All potentially explosive items are dangerous, which is why we are told to be careful near gas cylinders. However, when it comes to the explosion of chairs, they do not tend to explode unless they have an explosive interior.
The stories about exploding office chairs circulating social media have scared people to use gaming and office chairs, to the extent that they are afraid of even chairs that tend to collapse under the weight of items placed on them. This fear cannot be called completely irrational. However, there are some things you can do to ease your worry and start trusting office chairs again.
Overloading a chair can cause it to collapse. So you should abide by the instructions that come with the chair when you purchase it and refrain from placing too much weight on it.
Coming on to the danger of office chairs, be assured that they are not inherently dangerous. The gas cylinders, on the other hand, can be potentially dangerous if they explode.
You should also consider other reasons that might be the cause for office chairs to explode:
Now that you know the reasons for the office chair gas cylinder explosions, you can be more careful while using the chair. You can look out for signs of damages or faults in your office chair. There are some things you can do to avoid any harmful incidents. The best way to avoid explosions is to look for an office or gaming chair with certain features and make sure the chair you decide to buy checks all the boxes.
As we discussed, one of the main reasons why office chairs explode is due to manufacturing faults, whereby certain companies use cost-saving shortcuts to produce cheap office chairs.
Luckily, there are several manufacturers who value their integrity and customers’ safety and therefore make safe chairs that are tested against the quality standards. You can buy superior quality office chairs that also have massage features to keep you relaxed throughout the day.
If you are a gamer and spend endless hours in your gaming chair, the exploding chair stories would have surely scared you off from spending too much time in your gaming chair. Well, if you want to continue your passion, you can find some safe and high-quality gaming chairs that have massage features to keep your muscles relaxed even after long hours of gaming.
For such users who have retired their old gaming chairs after the whole exploding chairs fiasco, you can get the expert-recommended KILLABEE Massage Gaming Chair.
Make sure to read the brochure that comes with the chair before buying. Check whether the company abides by the quality and safety standards of production. Another good way to check for quality is price. If you are unsure whether you can tell the quality of a chair or not, you can compare the prices of office chairs and stray clear of the cheapest ones. You can read reviews and expert recommendations online before making your purchase.
Since the height adjustment mechanism is what causes office chairs to explode, it is safe to see how the chair is manufactured and what adjustment mechanism it uses. Even though most chairs use gas cylinders, not all of them are unsafe. If you are still unsure, you can look for chairs that do not use a pressurized gas cylinder for height adjustment. You can buy accent chairs to avoid using office chairs with potentially explosive gas cylinders.
The purpose of this article was to assure you that there are safe office chairs that you can buy. We cannot ignore the fact that some office chairs can explode, but it is worth noting that these are the cheapest ones and that the odds of an office chair explosion are extremely narrow.
Hopefully, this article will help you avoid falling into the trap of buying a poorly manufactured office or gaming chair. You can incorporate the careful behaviors of using an ergonomic office chair that we have listed above, and they will help you maintain the durability of your chair.