It is commonplace for companies not to include acceptance criteria when generating RFQ standards for new and reconditioned machine installations. If acceptance criteria are provided then, too many times, a company will rely on the vendor or manufacturer to provide a specification determining what is an acceptable level of vibration for newly commissioned equipment. Many vendors use existing internal recommended acceptance overall values or reference ISO or Hydraulic Institute standards which in turn solely reference overall velocity values. Some customers typically generate a specification based on these overall standards then require the vendor to source a third party to test the equipment in situ limited to the specification. There are many considerations for machine acceptance procedures that aren’t being addressed either because of lack of knowledge, dependence on manufacturer’s recommendations, or a “this is what we always do” mentality. This presentation uses actual field and factory test stand results of equipment that would have normally passed established conventional standards but instead failed due to identified advanced application defects in resonance, bearings, and internal rotor instability.