@DavecUK my retailer (Clive, who I think works through 1st-Line for Lelit parts and such), is acting like they’ve never heard of this problem. Until I pointed them to another guy in this thread who also purchased through Clive.
1st-Line is trying everything they can to put it back on me, my water, saying I need to recharging the in-tank water softener weekly, etc… I have great city water where I live, a little over 100ppm. It’s honestly been frustrating.
I have disassembled and lubed the OPV a few times now. When I lube with the Molykote 111, the spiking problems seem to get worse. Much worse in fact. When I lubed with plumbers 90% silicone lube, it seems to work much more consistently, but the fix doesn’t seem to last. My last attempt, I did a very thin coat of Molykote, then added silicone lube on top. Molykote is a much stickier lube, whereas silicone lube seems to help the valve seat move easier.
It might also just be coincidence, and have more to do with the alignment of the green valve seat part. The indent on my part is very off-center. I really suspect that to be part of the problem.
I should hopefully have a new valve in the next few weeks, but since you have been so helpful here, I wanted to make sure to report back with some detail.
