Wait, don’t throw away that office chair yet!

A good office chair will serve you for several years. But ultimately any piece of furniture will develop a fault and you will eventually think about buying a replacement. And unlike the fridge, washing machine or TV, you can’t call a handyman from the Yellow Pages to fix your chair.

However, the most common faults that your trusty office chair can develop may be repaired, saving you the cost of replacement for the time being.

Here is a list of the 7 most common failures that can happen to your office chair:

1. The gas lift fails
2. The recline mechanism fails
3. An armrest brakes
4. A beaver breaks or falls
5. The backing collapses
6. Seat foam padding wears out
7. The upholstery wears out

This is not a particularly nasty list. But when one of these things happens, most people will think it’s time to change their meat. However, the good news is that many of these problems can be easily resolved.

CHECK THE WARRANTY

The first thing to do isn’t always the most obvious thing, unless your chair is less than a year old: check the warranty. Most inexpensive chairs, whether purchased online or in a store, will have at least a one-year warranty. More expensive chairs made in the UK, Europe, or North America may have a three-year or even five-year warranty. If your chair is still under warranty, you may be able to get the problem fixed by your retailer or manufacturer at almost no cost. (You may have to cover the cost of shipping the chair to the manufacturer and picking it up.)

But even if your office chair is no longer under warranty, you can easily overcome most problems by purchasing replacement parts and repairing them yourself.

FAILED GAS LIFT

The gas lift is the cylinder that extends from the feet (5 star base) of your chair to the seat. Over time, the gas lift can fail if the chair has to carry too much weight or if you constantly raise and lower the height of the seat. A new gas lift can be purchased from a specialist supplier of office chair components. Ask the supplier for instructions on how to remove the defective gas lift to replace it with a new one.

RECLINE MECHANISM FAULTS

The recline mechanism is the metal plate that bolts to the bottom of your chair’s seat. Your chair’s reclining mechanism will have one, two, or 3 handles to adjust the height of the seat and the tilt or recline of the backrest. If your chair mechanism fails, please contact the original retailer and ultimately the wholesaler or manufacturer. Ask them where you can buy a new mechanism of the type used in your chair. The new mechanism will come with instructions on how to attach it to your chair after removing the damaged one.

AN ARMREST IS BREAKED

The metal armrests are very resistant. But a plastic armrest could break if a lot of pressure is applied to it frequently. For example, do you lean on the armrests when you get up or down in the chair? When an armrest on your chair breaks, ask your retailer or distributor again to put you in touch with the wholesaler or manufacturer. The latter will be able to tell you how to find a component supplier who can sell you the same or similar type of armrest. You will need to check the holes through which the armrests are screwed into the seat (and possibly back). Clearly describe the fixings to the component supplier to ensure that the replacement arms you receive will screw into the same holes in the seat (and back). Then it’s a matter of unbolting the damaged armrests and replacing them with the new ones.

A BROKEN OR LOOSE WHEEL

Office chair beavers are easily found on the internet and on eBay these days. A simple search on your favorite search engine will bring up a few. You will need to measure the diameter of the pins used to hold the beavers on the 5-star base, the diameter of the outer collar of the beaver, and the diameter of the beaver wheels. A complete set of 5 beavers may be recommended if there is a slight variation in size between old and new.

The last three problems are the ones you may not be able to fix yourself. They indicate the age of your chair or a weakness in its construction and therefore it may be time to replace your chair.

BACKUP COLLAPSES

If the back of your office chair collapses, it’s likely that something very fundamental within the back has broken. For example, the plywood board inside the backrest. You won’t be able to fix this yourself, and the manufacturer and wholesaler typically won’t sell you a new back if the chair is no longer under warranty. It would be time to get a new chair.

THE FOAM PADDING ON THE SEAT WEARS OUT

This is definitely a sign of age for your chair, unless substandard foam padding has been used on the chair’s seat, or the chair has been subjected to some abuse or misuse. If you can prove that inferior quality foam padding was used, you may be able to obtain compensation from the retailer/wholesaler. If it is one of the other causes, you will probably need to buy a new chair.

THE UPHOLSTERY WEARS

This problem has all the same causes and consequences as the previous one. You may be able to get compensation from the retailer or wholesaler if the manufacturer has used substandard upholstery on your chair. If not, the chair may need to be replaced. And you have a third option: you can have the chair reupholstered at a local upholstery company.

CONCLUSION

So, as you can see from all of the above, you don’t always have to throw away your office chair when it fails. If he spent a lot of money to get a really comfortable office chair and has had it for several years, it is likely that he has become very attached to his chair. Find a way to fix the problem if you can. Do not knock over the chair unless absolutely necessary.