Maintenance & systems
A LEV system does not look after itself between examinations. Fourteen months is a long gap, and a system can quietly drift out of control in the weeks after a clean test - so the real job is to hold performance steady all year with simple checks, prompt fixes and an honest logbook, not to rely on the test alone.
The short answer
A LEV system does not look after itself between examinations. Fourteen months is a long gap, and a system can quietly drift out of control in the weeks after a clean test - so the real job is to hold performance steady all year with simple checks, prompt fixes and an honest logbook, not to rely on the test alone.
The detail
The thorough examination and test is a snapshot. It confirms the system controlled exposure on the day a competent person measured it, but it says nothing about the following fourteen months. Ductwork loads with deposit, filters clog, belts slip, dampers get knocked and hoods get moved - and any of those can pull capture velocity below the level that protects the people working at the source. Treating the test as the whole of your duty leaves a long window where control can slide unnoticed.
The fix is a light routine that runs all year. Simple user checks - a look at the airflow indicator, a glance over hoods, ducts and filters, and a listen for any change in the fan - take minutes and catch the common faults early, while they are still cheap. HSG258 expects this ongoing attention as part of maintaining the system, and it is the single most effective thing an operator can do to keep control steady between formal examinations.
Every check and every fix belongs in the logbook. A running record of what was looked at, what was found and what was done turns a scatter of small observations into a trend you can read: a filter gauge creeping up over weeks, a fan note changing, a hood that keeps getting nudged out of position. That trend is what lets you act before a fault becomes a failure, and it is also the evidence an inspector or insurer will ask to see.
Faults need reporting and fixing the same day, not filing until the next visit. A blocked filter or a slipping belt does not wait politely for the fourteen-month test - it degrades control now, so the people at that machine are under-protected until it is put right. A clear route for staff to flag a problem, and a quick response to it, is what keeps the interim period genuinely safe rather than merely uninspected.
What it means for you
Kept up all year, a LEV system arrives at its next examination in good order, and the test becomes a confirmation rather than a reckoning. The alternative - leaving everything to the competent person once every fourteen months - almost guarantees a crop of avoidable failures, remedial bills and a stretch of poor control you cannot account for.
It also protects the people the system exists for. Capture velocity that holds all year means the dust, fume or vapour is drawn away from the breathing zone every shift, not just in the days after a test. That is the whole point of the equipment, and interim upkeep is how the point is honoured between examinations.
None of it is onerous. A few minutes of checking built into normal work, a same-day habit of reporting faults, and a logbook that is actually filled in will keep most systems steady between tests for a fraction of the cost and disruption of reacting to a failure. The discipline is small; the protection it buys is not.
The service behind the guide
Sibling guides
Daily and weekly checks staff can run · Training operators to use LEV correctly · Budgeting annual LEV compliance
Questions
No. The test confirms control on the day it was measured. Filters clog, belts slip and hoods get moved in between, so simple user checks and prompt repairs are needed all year to keep control steady.
The airflow indicator, the condition of hoods, ducts and filters, and any change in the fan's sound. These quick checks catch the common faults early, before they pull capture velocity below a safe level.
Build them into normal work - a daily glance and a slightly fuller weekly look suits most systems. The right frequency depends on how hard the system works and how quickly its filters load.
Because it turns single observations into a trend you can act on, and it is the evidence an inspector or insurer expects. A filter gauge creeping up over weeks is only visible if someone is writing it down.
No. A blocked filter or slipping belt degrades control immediately, so it should be reported and fixed the same day. Waiting leaves the people at that machine under-protected until the next examination.
Phoenix Duct Clean · by the numbers
Phoenix carries out LEV testing to HSG258, with clear reports, honest remedial advice and records your insurer and inspector will accept. Call or email for a quote.