Commitments and Contingencies - Narratives (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018
Loss Contingencies
Accrued environmental reserve	$ 0.6	$ 1.3
Remediation period	7 years
Operating Segments \| D&S West \| Cryobiological storage
Loss Contingencies
Product warranty expense		$ 4.0

Number of years expected for future environmental remediation expenditures duration

No definition available.

Name:	gtls_Numberofyearsexpectedforfutureenvironmentalremediationexpendituresduration
Namespace Prefix:	gtls_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Total costs accrued as of the balance sheet date for environmental loss contingencies.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 450
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118942415&loc=d3e14326-108349

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 450
-SubTopic 20
-Section 25
-Paragraph 2
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6395460&loc=d3e13647-108346

Reference 3: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 410
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 7
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6393242&loc=d3e13207-110859

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AccrualForEnvironmentalLossContingencies
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LossContingenciesLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The expense charged against earnings for the period pertaining to standard and extended warranties on the entity's goods and services granted to customers.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 28
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118932676&loc=d3e3602-108585

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 460
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 8
-Subparagraph ((c)(3,4))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=68068213&loc=d3e12565-110249

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ProductWarrantyExpense
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	srt_ConsolidationItemsAxis=us-gaap_OperatingSegmentsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=gtls_DistributionStorageWestMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	srt_ProductOrServiceAxis=gtls_CryobiologicalMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: