Chairs and Recliners

Why do pneumatic reclining office chairs suddenly stop reclining, and how do you fix it?

I have a reclining office chair in my office, one of those fancy pneumatic jobs with one little lever that raises and lowers it. It also has a knob on the bottom with no known function -- it has an arrow on it pointing to a minus sign clockwise and a plus sign counterclockwise. I've had it for about a year. It usually reclines about 30 degrees. Last week, it just stopped reclining, and I'm afraid to force it lest I break something. (I'm a bit overweight.) I've tried twiddling the little knob on the bottom in both directions, no dice. I've also tried raising and lowering it, even turning it upside down and shaking it. It just won't recline any more. Help? (Thanks y'all, I'll try that tomorrow.)

Public Comments

1. My office chair has a recline lock on it. The lever that I use to adjust the height gets pushed toward the center mast to lock it in place pull it away from the center mast to let the chair recline. Hope this helps.
2. I agree with the the _super_gr above. You accidentally disabled the reclining function.
3. If that doesn't work, the preceding answers, try calling an upholstery shop. They not only re-upholster furniture, but will frequently know how to fix them.