I have baseboard heat. One area got ruined by a pet. I'm in the process of repairing the entire area. I've already repaired the sheetrock behind the baseboard. I've also removed the baseboard covers and backing and plan to repaint those (They were originally painted). The actual copper piping that comes up through the floor and enters the fins - I was wondering if it could be safely painted (not the portion within the fins - only the "bare" pipe before it enters the fins). The reason I'm asking is I'd really like to mask any odor related to the pet damage. I really do not want to replace the actual piping. Is there a paint that can be safely applied to this small section of copper piping that will withstand the heat without being a fire hazard & not produce toxic fumes? There are no electric elements associated with my baseboard heating. Also what is the best paint to use for the metal baseboard covers & backings? Thanks

My water heater doesn't produce enough hot water in the winter months, yet it's perfectly fine during summer months. My online research suggests the problem may be that my gas line is too small to run both the water heater (40,000 BTU) and the new gas boiler we added to this line shortly after buying the home (130,000 BTU). Both gas appliances run off of a 3/4" natural gas line, with 40 feet of pipe between the meter and the appliances (located next to each other). If I'm reading the charts correctly, it looks like 40 feet of 3/4" pipe only supports 136,000 BTU. But here's what I want to understand, and I'm hoping someone on this forum can explain to me: since my boiler is not running constantly -- let's assume it's running for maybe 10 minutes out of every hour -- shouldn't the water heater be able to function just fine most of the time, struggling with a smaller flame for just the limited period of time when the boiler is on simultaneously? In other words, regardless of the pipe size, when I wake up in the morning and nobody's used any hot water for at least 8 hours, shouldn't there still be a full tank of hot water in the winter, just like there is in the summer, because the water heater has had all night to maintain the temperature? I mean, doesn't the internal thermostat in the water heater tell the flame to keep running, small or big, until the tank is full of hot water? I don't understand why would it matter that the water heater doesn't get its full capacity of gas for a fraction of each hour.