Well with a 4ft header I dont know how likely it is that air is somehow finding its way to the pump inlet. The way these pumps operate is that they have a far greater capacity than the burner can ever need and they spill back the surplus to the pump inlet. That means the pump heats up quite quickly. You are looking at really close tolerances within the pump and then you have the SOV bolted on top and I guess its possible that the warming of the pump might mitigate a discrete problem that exists when the pump is cold - just a thought.
