How To Identify If A Gas Spring Is Failing

If an internal seal has developed a fault then you will notice less force in the spring and maybe see excess oil on the rod or body. Some slight oil is normal
When you are opening a door / hatch you will have to apply more effort to open the device as the gas spring will not be performing fully
The door / hatch to be held open will start slowly drop, the gas spring will not be strong enough to hold open your application
The rod will no longer operate within a smooth manner and will create a juddery motion when opening / closing

There are many reasons why a gas spring may fail, listed below are some of the most common

Ideally a gas spring rod should be

Clean and free from grit or debris that may ingress into a seal. Damage to the rod, including pits, dents and scratches can all lead to premature seal wear
Away from extremes of temperature which may impact the internal components or vary the pressure of the gas inside
Shielded from salt water or corrosive elements which could cause rust or discolouration, or use high grade 316L Stainless Steel if unavoidable
Used within the limits for which it is designed i.e. not over stressed
Installed correctly so that the gas spring operates within its maximum efficiency. Incorrect specification and fitting can lead to premature wear and ultimately earlier than expected failure

Depending on the type and quality of gas spring there are a few options available if your gas spring fails

For lower cost / lower quality units unfortunately the most effective approach is to safely dispose of and replace the faulty units. Depending on the application and the frequency at which you are changing the gas springs it might be worthwhile evaluating if a higher specification / better quality gas spring would provide a suitable better value replacement. The engineers at Alrose will happily evaluate your existing gas spring application
Specifying and correctly fitting a gas spring does require a professional engineering approach. Over the years we have come across numerous applications where
- Gas springs have failed because they were initially installed incorrectly
- The weight of the hatch / door has been massively underestimated resulting in an incorrect gas spring being specified. When you then add in that incorrect fitting locations and brackets are used it is a recipe for component failure
- The Alrose Technical engineers and design team will happily review both the specification and fitting position. Why not call one of our team and send them through your design criteria
Using a high quality gas spring (such as an Alrose Product) it maybe possible to increase or decrease the pressure of your existing spring. More about this in another article…