When you are sitting in your gaming chair in the middle of playing your video game, the last thing you want is something such as the chair’s construction or quality to ruin your experience and potentially hurt you. There have been some rare instances when gaming chairs have exploded, leading to injuries.
So, can gaming chairs explode? While it is very rare for gaming chairs to explode due to strict regulations in manufacturing, the gas cylinders that allow for height adjustments to be made in modern chairs can explode. There have been two cases in China where this happened, but it is very unlikely that this will happen as millions of chairs are in use around the world safely.
You should not stress about gaming chairs exploding when making your purchase. Many offices and desk chairs, including gaming chairs, operate using gas cylinders to make height adjustments, and there have been minimal incidents involving their explosion. We will walk you through how these gas cylinders work and the real issues surrounding these technologies.
Do Gaming Chairs Explode?
There are two main reasons why we are asking this question and why you may be wondering if gaming chairs explode: there have been a few incidents where this did occur, and pressurized gas may make us wonder if this is possible. Let’s look at the cases where explosions did happen and how these pressurized gas cylinders work.
Gaming Chair Explosions
There have been three major documented incidents of gaming/office chairs exploding (read this and this). These cases led to serious injuries where the pressurized tanks within the chair (used for suspension) exploded, causing metal rods, screws, and other metal fragments to break and insert themselves on the person sitting in the chair.
Larger pressurized canisters will have more excessive force, leading to greater bodily harm. These three instances are very unfortunate, but with only three cases, this reveals that these accidents are very rare. These situations occurred using inexpensive air-lift chairs where the quality may have been compromised.
Most of these chairs used gas-pressured cylinders, but unfortunately, some chairs may be built with pressurized air rather than gas to drive costs down further. This shift in pressurized material, while not extensively documented, may have been the reason for the explosion occurrences.
Gas-Pressured Gaming Chairs
Many modern gaming chairs are made using a gas-pressured suspension system. This allows the chair to easily shift up and down in height for your desired gaming height. When you press the lever on the side of the chair to move up or down, this is made possible by a gas cylinder that is located below the seat of the chair. This is the gas spring mechanism used for easy movement.
These gas springs used compressed nitrogen gas to create the pressure for changes in height and oil to keep the springs lubricated and moving smoothly.
Here is a step-by-step guide to how gas springs work:
- There is a cylinder in the office chair that is filled with nitrogen gas. When you push down on the lever to change the height, a piston, or a plug-like piece, is pressed into the gas cylinder, allowing it to compress.
- The full movement of the piston to create a highly pressured area results in force and allows the chair to move higher or lower.
- This process creates friction, which can lead to an increase in temperature. Fortunately, these systems are well-lubricated with oil to prevent these increases from happening.
You will likely never interact with the gas cylinder or gas spring in your office chair. Most chairs are well-designed and will only require you to enjoy sitting in them. In the rare case that you do interact with them, it is likely due to replacement. This means that the suspension system is no longer working. It could be due to damage to the cylinder or problems with the gas.
You can simply replace your gas cylinder (oftentimes, you can get this from the chair manufacturer). This is a really simple video that shows you how to do this.
Following the proper steps for replacement will help to ensure it is inserted properly and prevent any accidents from happening. Most accidents related to this would be a collapse rather than an explosion.
Choosing a Gaming Chair
Though the instances of explosion are rare, you should still be mindful of the type and quality of the gaming chair you end up choosing. There are many considerations you should make when choosing a gaming chair, and this includes ones that will keep you safe.
Considerations in buying an office chair:
- Comfort: Especially if you are really into gaming, you will want to choose one that is comfortable for all the hours you will be spending in it. This may mean additional padding throughout the chair, chair back design, and seat shape. Many chairs are designed with back and neck support in mind, making your sitting positions much more comfortable and better for your body.
- Quality: The materials used and the structural integrity are important considerations to make sure your chair lasts a long time. This starts from the internal structural quality, the pressurized gas that is used, and the outer material you will be sitting on. You do not want anything that will snag or rip with minimal use.
- Safety: Choosing a safe option should be a major concern when choosing a chair. You do not want anything that will collapse easily or, as we are talking about in this article, explode! Check the reviews of a chair before you buy it and look at any safety ratings that are available on the product you are looking at.
- Price: A major consideration in buying your gaming chair is price. You want something that will get the job done but also not set you back financially. Sometimes it pays to spend a little more, especially if you are concerned about safety and quality. You will want to look for a chair that is inexpensive but also checks the other boxes related to structural quality and reviews.
Your gaming chair choice will come down to which of these considerations matter most to you. You should be looking for the most comfortable, highest quality, and safest gaming chair in your price range. If some of these areas are more important than others, the selection of chairs is substantial!
If you are worried about exploding gaming chairs, you can always choose one that does not rely on an airlift system. This could be a beanbag-style chair, a rocking chair, or other gaming chairs that do not include a gas cylinder.
Gaming Chairs and Explosions
While there have been instances of gaming chairs exploding due to the pressurized airlift chairs malfunctioning, these instances are extremely rare. There is no great reason to worry about a gaming chair exploding when making a purchase. You will just want to avoid pressurized air and focus on looking at chairs that use a pressurized nitrogen system.
Make sure you are looking for chairs that check off these important boxes:
- Optimal comfort for long hours of gaming
- High-quality materials to ensure that the chair is durable and long-lasting
- Safe so that no injuries (or exploding) occur
- At a price point that makes sense for your budget
So, do not worry about exploding chairs, especially with their rarity in occurrence. Look for a chair that will hit all of these categories and that you feel you will get the most out of. You can spend more time focusing on the game than worrying about the chair!
