Are Office Chair Cylinders Universal?

When you raise or lower the height of your favorite office chair, it happens thanks to the gas cylinders within the chair. If your cylinders are a little faulty and perhaps require replacement, do you need specific cylinders for the chair or all office chair cylinders universal?

In most cases, office chair cylinders will follow a universal size, but not always. When replacing your office chair cylinder, you should make sure to properly measure the dimensions of the cylinder first so you can be confident you’re purchasing the right size.

In today’s article, I’ll talk further about whether office chair cylinders are universal. I’ll also delve into topics like how to tell when your cylinders are bad and how to replace them. You won’t want to miss it! 

Are All Office Chair Cylinders the Same?

Office chair cylinders tend to follow one universal size, as I mentioned in the intro, but this isn’t true of every cylinder. 

Before I can explain when it’s not the case, let me talk further about what an office chair cylinder is. 

If you’ve ever taken apart an old office chair before replacing it, you’ll probably have seen the gas cylinder, also known as the pneumatic lift. The cylinder was comprised of two parts, right?

Near the top is the first part, which is a gas spring. The diameter of the spring can be anywhere from 28 millimeters to 1.1 inches. Within the gas spring is lubricant oil and pressurized nitrogen, which is where the gas in gas cylinders comes from.

At the top of the spring is the actuator. Once you apply pressure on that, your office chair will either lower or raise as you expected. 

Most springs have a slight taper of 17-4 near the top. The bottom of the spring features a moving piston that also augments the lowering or raising of your chair.

That brings us to the second part of the office chair cylinder, which is a column with a two-inch diameter. The column attaches to your chair’s five-star base. If you got off your chair and looked underneath it right now, you can probably see part of the column. 

The main difference in one office chair cylinder to another is the stroke. This term refers to how many inches the chair can raise or lower when at its max setting. If the stroke was five, that means you can raise the chair five inches.

That’s the standard stroke for office chair cylinders, but the stroke can be anywhere from four inches to 11 inches. If the stroke of your replacement cylinder is too high, the chair won’t be able to lift that much and you could break the other components. 

How to Tell If You Need a Cylinder Replacement

Gas cylinders, depending on their quality, can last you anywhere from several months to many years. Even if the rest of your chair is working well, if the cylinders aren’t, you can’t ignore the problem. 

Here are several signs that you need to prioritize getting a new cylinder sooner than later. 

Your Chair Sinks When You Sit In It

Whenever you sit in your office chair, it’s not supposed to sink. If it does and you haven’t adjusted any settings, that’s a sign that your cylinder has started to let go. 

Replacing the cylinder usually fixes the issue, but in some instances, you might have to buy a new office chair. That would be likelier if your chair was very cheap, i.e., under $100. 

You’re Unable to Adjust Your Seat Height

The main duty of the gas cylinder is to raise or lower your seat height, as I talked about in the last section. If your cylinder fails to do either, then it’s not working properly.  

You might be able to ignore this issue for now if your chair is already at a comfortable height for you, but if you have the abovementioned sinking issue whenever you sit, you’ll begin losing height little by little. Then you’ll have to buy a new gas cylinder. 

You Can’t Turn or Swivel Your Chair

Lately, your chair seems jammed up. You’re having a hard time turning the chair, and the swivel feature doesn’t want to work anymore either. These are both indicative of cylinder failure, so you can’t wait any longer to get a new cylinder. 

You Want to Be Able to Adjust Your Seat Higher or Lower

If your chair won’t budge even when you press the lever, that’s another sign that something’s wrong with your cylinders. Your chair could be stuck too high or too low, which makes using it comfortably very difficult. 

How to Measure a Gas Cylinder for an Office Chair

You’ve determined that your office chair’s current gas cylinder is beyond repair, so you’re going to replace it. How do you know what size the new one should be? 

The only way to be sure is to measure the cylinder that’s in your chair now. I’ll talk in the next section about how to open your office chair by its five-star base and take out the cylinder, so you’ll follow those steps.

Then, with some measuring tape or a ruler, measure the length and diameter of the cylinder. Since you can’t use your office chair the way you want to with a faulty cylinder anyway, you might leave your chair partially detached until the new cylinder arrives.

Then you can compare the cylinders and be sure that the two are an exact size match. 

How to Replace Your Office Chair Cylinder

You bought a fresh office chair cylinder and it arrived today. How do you take the old one out and put the new one in? 

That requires you to take apart the chair via the five-star base. Although the methodology for doing so can vary depending on your office chair manufacturer, the following instructions are general enough that you should be able to follow them.

Here’s what you do.

Put Your Chair into Position 

Lay down the chair so that it’s face-down. Put a tarp, an old towel, or some newspaper underneath the front of the chair. Remember, there are fluids in the cylinder, and they can leak on their way out. That would ruin your floors, especially carpet! 

Remove the Clip and the Washer

With a flat-bladed screwdriver, insert it into the clip’s fold in the middle of the chair base. With a slight twist and a push, the clip should come off. Then you can remove the washer and the five-star chair base should detach.

If you can’t get your chair’s base to come off with a screwdriver, a rubber mallet works well. Just make sure you don’t hit your fingers! Avoid banging on any other areas of the chair as well so you don’t damage them.  

With the base of the chair removed, now you can see the cylinder. It should slide right out if you tip the chair forward.

Take Out the Cylinder and Recycle It

Although your cylinder might not look worn, if it’s not working, then you don’t want to keep it. Call your local recycling centers and scrap metal dealers, as they might be interested in recycling the cylinder for you. 

Put in the New Cylinder

Unbox your new gas cylinder and slide it into place. Then do the reverse order of everything you did before, replacing the washer and the clip of the office chair’s five-star base. 

Test Your Chair

Gently raise your chair up and try sitting in it. Does your chair sink anymore? Can you freely raise or lower its height? If you answered yes to both questions, then congrats, you fixed it. If you answered yes to only one question, then it might be time to consider a new office chair. 

Where to Buy a Replacement Office Chair Cylinder

There is one more thing you’re curious about. Where exactly can you get your hands on new office chair cylinders? 

All sorts of places, really. Amazon sells office chair replacement parts, as do major retailers like Walmart. eBay might have them as well. 

You can also visit a specialty website such as Chair Parts Online.com. Do a quick Google search in your neighborhood to see if any shops come up that sell specialty chair parts. Maybe there’s a store that you didn’t even know was there!

Here’s what I recommend above all else. Especially when buying a replacement cylinder online, you need to read the listing carefully. If the listing mentions nothing about the size of the cylinder, then don’t buy it. You can’t be sure it’s a size match. 

Also, only purchase new cylinders. I know it’s tempting to go for a used one since they’re usually cheaper, but there’s a reason someone isn’t using it anymore. The cylinder could be broken or damaged.  

Conclusion 

Although office chair cylinders are usually universal, it’s still a good idea to measure your cylinder before buying a replacement just to be on the safe side. Since chair cylinders are spring-loaded, you should always be careful when handling them. Good luck!