Maintenance & systems
The most valuable LEV checks are the ones your own staff run, not the competent person's annual test. A short daily look and a slightly fuller weekly round - airflow indicator, hoods, ducts, filters and fan - catch the faults that quietly wreck capture, and they cost nothing but a few minutes and a logbook entry.
The short answer
The most valuable LEV checks are the ones your own staff run, not the competent person's annual test. A short daily look and a slightly fuller weekly round - airflow indicator, hoods, ducts, filters and fan - catch the faults that quietly wreck capture, and they cost nothing but a few minutes and a logbook entry.
The detail
Start each day with the airflow or pressure indicator fitted to the system. Most LEV should carry a simple gauge, manometer or flag that shows extraction is running at the level set when the system was commissioned. A reading that has dropped, a flag that no longer stands, or a gauge outside its marked band is the earliest warning that capture is failing - and it takes seconds to read. If there is no indicator, that is itself worth flagging, because the operator has no easy way to tell the system is working.
Look over the visible hardware daily too. Check that hoods and captor arms are in their proper position and undamaged, that nothing is blocking the airflow into them, and that flexible ducting has not been crushed, kinked or disconnected. A hood nudged a hand's width from the source, or a captor arm left parked away from the work, will not draw contaminant away even though the fan is running normally.
Once a week, go a little further. Open or inspect filter housings where you safely can and read the filter gauge against its clean baseline, so a slow rise in loading is caught before it chokes the system. Listen to the fan for any change in note or new vibration, which can signal a slipping belt, a worn bearing or an imbalance. Look along accessible ductwork for signs of leakage, sagging or heavy deposit at bends.
Write down what you find, every time. A one-line logbook entry - date, what was checked, reading, anything done - is what makes the routine worth running. It shows the checks are actually happening, it builds the trend that reveals slow faults, and it hands the next thorough examination a clear history rather than a blank.
What it means for you
The annual thorough examination is thorough but rare. Your own daily and weekly checks are shallow but constant, and it is that constancy that protects people between visits. A competent person cannot see the filter that clogged three weeks after they left; the operator reading the gauge every morning can, and can have it dealt with before anyone is over-exposed.
These checks also make the formal test cheaper and smoother. A system that has been watched all year turns up in good order, with a logbook that answers the examiner's questions before they are asked. Systems left unwatched tend to fail on the day, generating remedial work, retests and downtime that a few minutes of routine attention would have prevented.
Crucially, none of this needs a specialist. Reading a gauge, checking a hood is where it should be, and noticing a change in the fan's sound are things a trained operator does well. The competent person's job is the measured examination; keeping the system healthy day to day is a job the workforce owns, and does best.
The service behind the guide
Sibling guides
Training operators to use LEV correctly · Why capture depends on positioning · What a proper LEV test includes
Questions
A daily look at the airflow indicator, hoods, captor arms and flexible ducting, and a weekly check of filter gauges, fan sound and accessible ductwork. All are quick and need no specialist equipment.
It shows at a glance whether extraction is running at the commissioned level. A dropped reading or a flag that no longer stands is the earliest sign capture is failing, caught in seconds each morning.
Read the filter gauge against its clean baseline at least weekly, and more often on hard-working systems. A slow rise in loading spotted early is easy to plan for; a fully choked filter is a sudden failure.
No. They sit alongside it. The statutory examination every fourteen months is the measured check by a competent person; daily and weekly staff checks keep the system healthy in between.
Because the log proves the checks happen, reveals slow faults as a trend, and gives the next examination a clear history. A one-line entry per check is enough.
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.