Why Does My Office Chair Keep Sinking?
Have you been wondering lately, "why does my office chair keep sinking?" every time you sit down on it? What is going on and why is it doing that?
It's not just you. This can happen to your chair after a few years of frequent use. The valve that your seat height lever controls is controlled by a piston that lets air in and out. When your chair keeps sinking, this means that valve, also known as a chair cylinder, is no longer working.
In order to fix it, you will either have to replace the piston or get a new chair. However, replacing the office chair's piston can be challenging, and sometimes, not possible.
If you're up to fixing it or replacing it, you can give it a go by checking out our blog post on how to replace an office chair cylinder here, or by simply watching the video below.
If you tried to give this your best go and the chair still isn't cooperating, head over to our best sellers , top-rated , or on-sale sections to find a perfect replacement!
"Just having the article available! I had been going nuts over having to buy a new chair every two years or so. Nothing wrong with the chair, just won't stay in position. I finally got the bright idea to check online for a fix. So happy I did, too. Thanks."
"A chair (which I seldom used but started using daily during the COVID-19 quarantine) wouldn't stay up and this article saved my back from sitting nearly just 25 cm off the floor. I used the PVC pipe with cable tiers, it seemed far superior. It's perfect."
"This was the best fix on the desk chair that suddenly lost its staying power. Bought a new chair on Amazon and it arrived damaged. Sent it back, found this website and voila, my old desk chair has new life! I never wanted to get rid of this chair."
"I cut a 4 inch (the distance I needed) PVC pipe with 3.5 inch OD, the long way to make to halves. Then wrapped the PVC halves around the piston with duct tape. It held for 3-4 months. I just re-taped it today. So happy about the simple solution."
"After reading about the duct-tape-with-clamp method, I just wrapped some masking tape around the cylinder to block the chair from going down. It worked very nicely! I just have to make sure not to sit down too suddenly."
"A permanent fix for $.98? Sign me up! At 6' 4" and 280 lbs, I never need to lower one of these ridiculously frustrating, 'guaranteed to fail' mechanisms! Thank you for saving me from buying another one!"
"I was going nuts trying to think how to stop buying desk chairs every two years and fix this one. Finally got the bright idea to check for a fix online. So glad I did. Thank you."
"My employer had no budget to replace my sinking chair. I am very handy, so this DIY job was the perfect solution to an otherwise perfectly comfortable chair. Thank you."
"My daily frustration with a randomly sinking chair was becoming palpable. Following these steps, I preserved an investment in an otherwise great chair. Thank you."
"Googled how to stop a sinking chair, saw the hose clip suggestion, happened to have one the correct size, fitted it, job done in 2 minutes. Brilliant. Well done."
"That was pretty good, I have been wondering how to raise the chair with some kind of metal ring but the idea of PVC pipe is great. Now I will have to try it. "
"Haven't tried it yet, but this was a very good and helpful explanation of what to do and what I'd need (for mending a sinking hydraulic chair). Thanks."
"It worked very good for my office chair! I used the first method (with clamps) and now the chair stands upright! Thanks for the article."
"This showed me I might as well buy a new chair. Once the cylinder has failed, the cushion is likely going to be in bad shape, too. "
"Brilliantly simple solution which I would not have thought of otherwise - wikiHow is so SO good in this respect. "
"This was very helpful and we are going to try it. Never even thought to do something so simple. Thanks!"
"Most helpful was the repairing of a sinking office chair using PVC pipe."
"Fixed two chairs using the hose clamp method. Thank you!"
"I'm glad I found this site for this tip! Great graphics."
"Thank you, it works on a dxr racer as well, thank you!"
"Love my office chair, and can't wait to try this fix!"
"The whole tutorial helped me, since I was clueless."
"Security helped most. Convinced me I could do it."
"I have tried the second method, it really worked!"
"Thanks, saved me from having to buy a new chair!"
"Worked great and saved me a lot of money!"
"Told me what I need to know."
"PVC worked great, thanks!"
"Saved me time and money."
It becomes very annoying when you have bought your chair a couple of months back, and now your gaming chair keeps sinking. We know that this is quite a common issue for some of you. But you don't need to worry because you are not alone.
This is a serious issue that needs to be addressed; otherwise, it can impact your productivity, and you will always be wondering what's going on with your chair and will not focus on your game. We know that no one wants that, but the first question that pops up in anyone's mind is, why does a gaming chair go down by itself in the first place? Let’s learn how to stop a gaming chair from sinking with us!
The Reasons That Make Your Gaming Chair Sink
The issue with sinking is associated with the height adjustment cylinder that is there at the end of an ergonomic chair. One thing to note here is that this chair can either be a gaming chair or an office chair. The problem of sinking is noted in both of them.
The only means of height adjustment is either pneumatic or a hydraulic pump that you can find beneath your seat. However, the gaming chairs have a pneumatic cylinder only. This is the center point where the problem arises, and you feel that your chair keeps sinking. This issue is common in both the new and old chairs, where you find that your gaming chair or office chair won't stay up.
You would have noticed a cylinder underneath your seat. It is this cylinder that is filled with nitrogen gas in a pneumatic pump and incompressible liquid in a hydraulic pump. It is in the case of a pneumatic pump that the gaming chair keeps going down, though this sort of height adjustment is faster.
Since the problem is with the pump only, you can fix it yourself. This means you won't have to spend dollars investing in a new chair and can mend your current chair too. The only problem here is that the lifting mechanism of the pump is affected and is not working properly.
Some Solutions to Fix Sinking Chair
Now when you are aware of the root cause of the problem, you need to work on the part of the solution. Fixing a sinking gaming chair is possible in a couple of ways that we have listed below. We suggest you go through them once so that you know which one you will need to sort out this issue.
Oil The Components
The easiest way of treating the problem where the gaming chair goes down by itself is to oil the components. This is a very simple way of treating the issue because the problem is often in the lever where it is not letting you adjust the height due to excessive friction. In such a case, greasing the lever can help you.
Use a Hose Clamp
Have you seen a ring clamping the hose pipes, often referred to as the jubilee clamp? You can use that clamp here to avoid your chair going down a certain height. It is often seen that the chair keeps going down at a certain height, so clamping the gaming chair at your desired height can help.
For doing so, you will have to uncover the metallic cylinder underneath your chair by removing the plastic body. The next thing to do would be to adjust the height as per your requirement and then clamp it using the hose clamp. You may even use duct tape to fix it in the position. Once you have done so, you are good to go.
Use a PVC Pipe
If you find that way tricky, you may even go for the PVC pipe solution. All you need to do is get a PVC pipe that is slightly bigger than your gaming chair's metallic cylinder's diameter. The next step is to make its length equal to the distance between the wheelbase and the base of your seat.
Once you have done so, cut a slit on the pipe at length to place it around the metallic cylinder. You will not face any sinking issues once the pipe is fixed around your gaming chair's height adjustment cylinder. And you can check that.
Replace the Pneumatic Cylinder
At times gamers are not interested in making the changes that we mentioned above, as everyone is not interested in DIY. Maybe they think that this can affect the way their gaming station looks overall. If you can afford it, we would suggest you replace the pneumatic cylinder. You can also do so if you find out that the damage in your pneumatic cylinder is permanent.
When to Buy a New Chair?
Summing it up, the average lifespan of any gaming chair is 3 – 5 years, and it requires a replacement after that. If you are a hardcore gamer, you would love to replace your gaming chair with a computer gaming chair to give a new look to your gaming station.
In most cases, gamers don't like making the changes that we mentioned above when their gaming chair keeps going down. Instead, they like buying a new one. You can do the same if you can afford it because your budget plays a big role here. However, there are many other factors that affect your decision to buy a new gaming chair.
The most important one is any parts' damage that might be there in your chair. The issue where your gaming chair keeps sinking was one of them. In many cases, replacement of parts or the DIYs we talked about above work. However, when it is not possible to make such changes, replacing your gaming chair becomes inevitable.
If you ask for our suggestion, we will say that you should go for an ergonomic chair the next time you plan to go for your gaming chair. You may also think of going for the best ergonomic chair that we design, as it is known for a longer lifespan and better performance.