Unexpected Explosions: When Office Chairs Begin to Explode

12 months ago (Edited)

Imagine coming in from work after a long day and all you want to do is watch that movie on Netflix, or probably watch that Netflix movie, or play that game and all you want to do is just sit on that chair but then when you sit on the chair, you hear a loud explosion. The next thing you see is yourself in the hospital, and small patches of the chair that had plunged into your skin being removed.

This is the case of Ms Liu, a University student in 2013 that returned from the shower to her room she shared with her brother. He just came back to the room and sat on the bed while she sat on the chair with a hair dryer, drying her hair and surfing the internet. From nowhere, there was an explosion from the chair and the explosion threw the room into a disarray. The explosion threw her to the ground and she was looking lifeless although was still conscious but passed out moments later.

She was rushed to the hospital and the hospital staffs worked overtime on it. her family was told that she suffered from an explosive injury and her anus was split open and was punctured by fragments of metals from the chair. Like this was not enough, her genital was affected as it was perforated by debris and sharpnel. Surgery was done and after five hours, the surgery was completed and her injury healed up after 6 months. When it was investigated, the cause of the explosion was the rotating, gas spring operated stool. People around the region said that they heard the blast as far as 200 meters from the incident.

While normal chairs do not have a gas spring but then with office chairs, the gas springs are used to adjust height. This pump has a airtight piston and a metallic cylinder, and a rod which helps to adjust height up and down. When the piston moves down, sucking in air before compressing it through the valve and into the rod where the seat of the chair is.

The cylinder is pressurized with nitrogen gas and oil and the nitrogen gas keeps the chair at topmost position while the oil helps to lubricate the metal. The cylinder that contains the piston is gas tight and when depressed, the depressed, the rod itself takes up space that compresses the air. There are multiple holes in the piston so as not to allow the piston dry up. Since the inside of the piston has a higher surface area than the outside, it helps it to remain up as a result of a higher force. If the chair is released in an uncontrolled manner it would violently explode.

This was not the only case where there was an explosion. On January 2009, a 14 year old teenager was also injured, and this happened when an office chair he sat on exploded. The rod pierced through his abdomen and injured him. He was able to contact his father who then contacted medics who rushed him to the hospital even though he was pale as a result of blood loss but was still conscious. He as bleeding internally and passed away after hours of medics trying to save him but couldn't find the location where he was bleeding.

This entire case falls back to the quality of the chair. Most of the cases happened in China and it happened with chairs that didn't have proper gas spring lifting insurance from the company showing that the chairs are certified. In cases were people buy cheap chairs that didn't have insurance and weren't properly built, the chairs are unable to withstand weight causing the springs to explode as the nitrogen force pushes it out.

These alarming cases underscore the importance of ensuring the quality and safety standards of office chairs, particularly those equipped with gas springs. Buyers should prioritize certified chairs with proper insurance to prevent potential risks and safeguard against unexpected explosions.

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https://vaseat.com/office-chair-explosion-causes-and-solutions/
https://www.asiaone.com/woman-badly-injured-exploding-computer-chair
https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/13637/death-by-exploding-office-chair
https://www.theweatherprediction.com/habyhints2/688/
https://www.explainthatstuff.com/gassprings.html
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