As a few people who have already been very helpful will know, I have been at war with my boiler for some time. The pump has been locking repeatedly, and that despite the fact that I am on my third inside 12 months.
I got a tip that it might be micro air bubbles expanding and locking out the pumps, so I went and got a replacement isolation valve (where the flexible oil line connects to the incoming copper oil pipe inside the boiler) in case air was being drawn in through it when the pump was working.
When I took it off I found little bits of hard grit like substance in the shape of shards, and the residue of what looked to be a baked on pink washer on the end of the oil line. So I wondered if this was once a washer that had disintegrated and am asking if it is likely the installer would have used one with a compression fitting, given there's already an olive. If small bits were getting into the pump it might explain the binding, which I had supposed was air.
I got a tip that it might be micro air bubbles expanding and locking out the pumps, so I went and got a replacement isolation valve (where the flexible oil line connects to the incoming copper oil pipe inside the boiler) in case air was being drawn in through it when the pump was working.
When I took it off I found little bits of hard grit like substance in the shape of shards, and the residue of what looked to be a baked on pink washer on the end of the oil line. So I wondered if this was once a washer that had disintegrated and am asking if it is likely the installer would have used one with a compression fitting, given there's already an olive. If small bits were getting into the pump it might explain the binding, which I had supposed was air.