How many feet of baseboard is affected? I know what ferrets smell like. I do not know what Nature's Miracle is. I doubt that the fins have any finish. Assuming that they are raw aluminum over copper tube, avoid acidic cleaners. Aim for a slightly alkaline pH, maybe 7-8.5 ish. Too acidic (low pH) will corrode the fins and copper. Obviously you need to clean out the fur and debris first. Consider phenolic and quaternary amonium cleaner-disinfectants. Otherwise, mild detergent should help. Consider HVAC evaporator cleaners like Nucalgon Evan-fresh or EVap Pow'r-C. They are formulated to be safe and effective on copper/aluminum assemblies, and safe for occupants. (I've never tried their "Blackhawk" cleaner, but it is probably a good bet.). It is an aerosol so it will be expensive if you had a lot of cool to clean.) Personally, for this purpose, I'd go stronger than that stuff, but for someone that does not have chemistry experience, I can say that they are safe for you and for the equipment. Since you are going for a smell, the material producing it is volitale so heat may be your friend. Steam might work well and should not hurt anything. After you are done cleaning as well as you can, Turning on the heat with the windows open might help a lot. Do open the windows and ventilate well because anything that evaporates with the steam or heat from the system might just condense on cooler surfaces if it. Is trapped in the room. That will just move the smell to the walls and such. Ferrets are great and very compelling animals. I have affection for them, but they make terrible pets from several standpoints. Good luck to you.

Converting baseboard to radiators should not be difficult especially if the house orginally had radiators. Old cast iron radiators can be put back in service even if they have been sitting idle for a long time. I agree radiant hot water heating is the most comfortable. However variable speed furnaces have come a long way in increasing comfort. Since you are already going through the expense of adding duct work for the AC, and you dislike the ugly baseboard, then consider integrating a furnace. You can get an electronic air cleaner if you have allergy problems. There are thermostats which will turn on the furnace blower to circulate and filter the air at very low speeds.

Hi matt. I'm in the planning stages of installing a baseboard radiant system, and I'll tell you what I know, though some of the pros that are here might have more to say. Since you'd be installing a new kind of heat emitter, I believe you'd first need to do a heat loss analysis of at least each room you plan to work on. Once you knew that, you'd have an idea of how much heat you'd need to supply via the new radiators. The manufacturer of the new radiators can tell you how much heat they give off per unit length, so that you can properly size them. But keep in mind that changing the type and size of the radiators will change the flow and probably the operating temp in that zone, and possibly the entire system. So as I see it, you would need a heat loss analysis for each room you work on, plus a calculation of the current flow and "head" (the total of all pressures) for each zone you work on, and for the system as a whole. Changing the type of heat emitter will change these numbers, and you want to make sure the final numbers fall back in the right range. Who knows, you might even be able to make the system run better. I don't claim to be an expert, but I've found that lots of people who install/service these systems aren't experts either. So be a little cautious. The main resource I used to learn was the book by Siegenthaler, "Modern Hydronic Heating." There is also a lot of information for sale on the website of the "Radiant Panel Association."

Well, you may need a plumber with boiler experience, but maybe not. For example, the heater register or cover of the long and narrow baseboard heaters of today can be replaced, without having to replace the heater inside. This heater is not more than a copper pipe that has aluminum fins attached to it. The heater cover is nailed or screwed to the studs in the wall. I have Slant-Fin baseboard heaters in my house, and I can easily replace their covers after buying them (measured by the foot) locally. More than likely, if the house is not too old, the pipes leading to the heater are made of copper. To install a new baseboard heater requires: a. Draining the boiler's pressure, or b. Being able to isolate the the heater from the system If the heater has shutoff valves at each end (somewhere along the heater pipe), one can shut the hot water supply and the hot water return valves (the water going to the heater, and the not so hot water coming out the heater). Then it requires cutting the old heater out, installing the new heater register, and sweating the new pipes/heater in place, followed by draining the trapped air in the new heater to allow it to fill with water from the boiler. This work is best done by a person who knows how (plumber/boiler technician, etc.).