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LEV testing - commissioning
Installing LEV on a new production line is not the finish - commissioning is. Commissioning is where a new system is proven to perform as it was designed to, before anyone relies on it, and where the benchmark is set that every future test will measure against. Skip it, and you have extraction nobody has confirmed works, and no baseline to judge its decline against later.
The short answer
Commissioning is the process of confirming that newly installed LEV performs as it was designed to before it is brought into reliance. It measures the system's actual performance - airflow, capture velocity at each hood, key pressures - and checks it against the design intent, so you know from the outset that the extraction genuinely controls the contaminant rather than merely being installed. Just as importantly, commissioning records these figures as the benchmark: the reference performance that every future thorough examination compares against to judge whether the system has declined. Without commissioning, you have unproven extraction and no baseline, which undermines every test that follows.
Installation is not the end
There is a natural assumption that once LEV is installed on a new line, the job is done - the hoods are up, the ducting is run, the fan is wired in, so the extraction must be working. But installation only puts the system in place; it does not prove the system performs. A newly installed LEV can have design shortcomings, installation errors, or simply not achieve in practice what was intended on paper - a hood not pulling what it should, a branch out of balance, airflow below target. Until it is measured, none of this is known. Installation gives you a system; commissioning tells you whether it works.
Commissioning is the step that closes that gap. It is the process of measuring the newly installed system's actual performance and confirming it meets the design intent before the line goes into full reliance on it. This matters because the whole point of the LEV is to control exposure, and a system that does not perform does not control exposure however neatly it is installed. Commissioning ensures the new extraction genuinely does its job from day one, rather than being assumed to work on the strength of being present. For a new production line, that assurance at the outset is exactly what commissioning provides.
What commissioning measures
Commissioning measures the things that determine whether the system controls the contaminant: the airflow the system moves, the capture velocity achieved at each hood where the contaminant is released, and the pressures at key points that show the system is balanced and performing as intended. These measurements are then checked against the design - the performance the system was specified to achieve. Where the system meets the design intent, commissioning confirms it works; where it falls short, commissioning identifies the shortfall so it can be corrected before the line relies on the extraction.
This check against design is what distinguishes commissioning from simply switching the system on and seeing air move. Air moving is not the test; achieving the capture velocity the process needs, at every hood, is. Commissioning verifies that specifically - that each point on the new line has the capture the design called for, and that the system as a whole is balanced so no hood is starved. It is a rigorous, measured confirmation, not an impression. And because it happens before the line goes into full production reliance, any shortfall found can be put right at the outset, while it is a commissioning snag rather than a live exposure. Getting it right at commissioning is far easier than discovering a problem later.
Setting the benchmark
Commissioning does something else just as valuable: it sets the benchmark. The performance figures recorded at commissioning - the airflows, the capture velocities, the pressures, when the system was new and confirmed to be working correctly - become the reference point against which every future thorough examination is measured. This baseline is what makes later testing meaningful, because judging whether a system has declined requires knowing what it achieved when it was working properly. Without a benchmark, a test can only guess at whether current readings represent good performance or a system already well below its capability.
This is why commissioning data is so important to keep. When a future examination measures the system, it compares the current figures against the commissioning benchmark to see whether performance has held or dropped - a fan that has lost airflow, a hood whose capture velocity has fallen, shows up as a decline from the recorded baseline. The benchmark turns each test from an isolated snapshot into a comparison over time, which is how gradual decline is detected. A system with no commissioning benchmark has every future test working half-blind, unable to say confidently whether it is looking at healthy performance or a shortfall. Commissioning is what gives the whole testing regime its reference point.
Skipping it undermines everything after
Skipping commissioning on a new line has two consequences that run through everything that follows. First, you have extraction that nobody has confirmed works - a system installed on the assumption of performance rather than the proof of it, controlling exposure or perhaps not, with no one having checked. That is a live risk from day one, because a system that does not perform is not protecting the people on the line, and without commissioning nobody knows. The line runs relying on an unproven control.
Second, you have no benchmark, which handicaps every future test. Each thorough examination that follows has nothing to compare against, so it cannot judge decline properly - it sees the current numbers but not whether they represent a system that has held up or one that dropped long ago. So the missing commissioning does not just leave a gap at the start; it degrades the value of the entire testing regime over the system's life. This is why commissioning is not an optional nicety for a new line but a foundational step: it establishes both that the extraction works and the baseline that makes every subsequent test meaningful. Getting a new production line's LEV commissioned is how you start its whole compliance and protection story on solid ground.
The takeaway
Commissioning is where new LEV on a production line is proven to perform as designed, before anyone relies on it. It measures the system's actual airflow, capture velocity at each hood, and key pressures, and checks them against the design intent - confirming the extraction genuinely controls the contaminant rather than merely being installed, and identifying any shortfall while it can still be corrected at the outset. Installation puts the system in place; commissioning tells you whether it works.
It also sets the benchmark - the reference performance that every future thorough examination measures against to judge decline. Skip commissioning and you have both an unproven control protecting the line from day one and no baseline, which leaves every later test working half-blind. So commissioning is a foundational step for a new line, not an optional one: it establishes that the extraction works and gives the whole testing regime its reference point. Start the line by proving its LEV and recording the baseline, and everything that follows stands on solid ground.
Questions
The process of confirming that newly installed LEV performs as designed before it is relied on. It measures the system's actual performance - airflow, capture velocity at each hood, key pressures - and checks it against the design intent, so you know from the outset that the extraction genuinely controls the contaminant.
Because installation only puts the system in place - it does not prove it performs. A newly installed LEV can have design shortcomings, installation errors, or simply not achieve in practice what was intended. Until it is measured, none of this is known. Commissioning is what confirms the system actually works.
The things that determine whether the system controls the contaminant: the airflow moved, the capture velocity achieved at each hood, and key pressures showing the system is balanced. These are checked against the design intent, confirming each point has the capture called for and no hood is starved.
The performance figures recorded when the system is new and confirmed working - airflows, capture velocities, pressures. They become the reference point every future thorough examination measures against to judge whether the system has declined. The benchmark turns each test into a comparison over time.
Because judging whether a system has declined requires knowing what it achieved when working properly. A future test compares current figures against the commissioning benchmark to see whether performance has held or dropped. Without a baseline, a test cannot say confidently whether readings are healthy or already a shortfall.
Two things run through everything after: you have extraction nobody has confirmed works - a live risk from day one - and no benchmark, which leaves every future test unable to judge decline properly. Skipping commissioning degrades the value of the entire testing regime over the system's life.
We commission new LEV against its design intent and record the benchmark - so your new line starts with proven extraction and the baseline every future thorough examination will measure against.
