Office chairs affect employees in more ways than one, which is why it’s important to know how to fix and how to remove office chair cylinders in case your office chairs malfunction. It’s easy to take them apart to remove the cylinders, and you can learn more about them below.
Apart from seating employees comfortably, office chairs also improve employees’ posture and affect their productivity. Hence, making sure they are working well is a must.
Steps In Removing An Office Chair Cylinder
Office chair cylinders play an important part in the use of office chairs as they adjust their height and let you sit comfortably. If it’s stuck or broken, you’d need to remove it then replace it. Here’s how you can remove and replace an office chair cylinder.
Step #1. Prepare the materials
First, you have to prepare the office seat that needs fixing, a mallet, a pipe wrench, and a new cylinder.
Step #2. Work on a flat surface
First, lay it on a work area or any flat surface where you can freely remove the base. The backrest of the chair should be on the side so that the chair would be stable.
Step #3. Remove the base
After laying it on a flat surface, proceed on taking the base off of the chair. The cylinder protrudes a little on the base of the chair, so to detach the base from it, you can use a mallet.
Hold the legs of the chair as you hit the protruding cylinder to stabilize the chair as you hit it. Don’t hit it too hard, lest you want your chair to fly across your work area.
Step #4. Press the gas lift
After removing the base of the chair, press the gas lift. Press it to extend the cylinder fully, and twist the pressure fitting using a pipe wrench. Then, the cylinder will come right out.
Step #5. Brace and remove the cylinder
After removing the old cylinder, place the old one. Make sure it’s pressure-fit, then place the cylinder on the underside of the chair.
Soon after, pop the base of the chair back on the cylinder to finish the removing and replacing process. Stand the chair back up to test if the cylinder works.
How do chair gas cylinders work?
Gas cylinders use pressured power to move a piston in a certain location. The gas it uses is compressed and forced into a chamber. This force and movement allow the chairs’ seats to be adjusted.
How does this work? When you press on the chair’s lever, the gas is pushed in and out of its chamber, which leads to the seat’s adjustment.
When your chair doesn’t allow adjustment anymore, it is due to the wear and tear of daily use. You can either change the gas cylinder or fix the lift mechanism in this situation.
How to choose the correct gas cylinder for an office chair?
Generally, an office chair gas cylinder has two parts. The top part is the gas spring, which holds the pressurized gas and oil for lubrication. The gas spring’s top-end holds the button that lowers or raises the chair upon pressing.
To know which gas cylinder you’ll need, you have to measure the stroke first. The stroke can be determined by gauging the travel of your chair from its lowest to its highest setting.
To properly measure the stroke, you have to:
- Move your chair to a wall and lower it all the way down
- Use the top of the backrest as a template and mark the lowest setting of the chair
- Raise the chair all the way up
- Mark the highest setting
- Measure the distance between the lowest and the highest setting
If you measure four inches, that means it has a four-inch stroke gas cylinder and can travel four inches from the lowest to the highest setting. The standard travel for most chairs is four to ten inches.
For 4.25 inches, a standard cylinder of S6222 would be ideal. If it’s 10 inches you’re looking for, an S6120-HD would be perfect.
As for the ideal office chair, you have to measure your height, seat height, the seat height using different shoe types, and chairs from different brands.
Are all office chair cylinders the same?
Generally, office chair cylinders are universal. The height is the only difference standard cylinders have between each other. However, you have to choose a chair with a standard cylinder that is close in height to your desk for your comfort.
You can try an S6111 cylinder, which is typically taller, but you can adjust it for your height with a lever. Another option you can consider is the S6222 cylinder which is about two inches shorter than S6111 but is closer to your existing cylinder.
Conclusion
Office chairs bring comfort in an otherwise busy environment, so it’s important to know how to remove office chair cylinder when you’re fixing them. We hope that this article helped you out in this venture. Make sure to choose the right cylinder so you can maximize your office chair’s comfortability.