Best solution for keeping snow off my dish

[dvrexpander]

Really?? I mean out of 4 feet of snow last year I only had one time I had to go out and brush it off the dish. Is it really that much of a issue we are too lazy to just go out and do it. I can understand it if its on a high roof at that point I suggest just using a can of de-icer spray since the streams can shot a good distance and a single blast takes care of it.

 

[The Fat Man]

supersoaker and warm water

Do they still make the supersoaker? Just kidding.

To smakovits, thanks, I am interested in this thread, because I just updated my dish this summer for HD and didn't think that the new angle might have snow problems, unlike the old dish. Although I have 100% improvement on tree branch blockage.

 

[Bob Haller]

I never had much of a problem till last winter, we must of had 4 feet of mostly wet sticky snow over a period of a couple months, I was shoveling to just get to the dishes. not bad for 110 & 119 easy access on back deck but 61.5 which had never had a problem...... i had to shovel a path over 50 feet thru 4 feet of snow just to get near the dish which was covered by over 6 feet of snow that drifted.

frankly I dont miss E at all, comcast and tivo work great and i no longer have to be a tech to watch tv

 

[David_Levin]

I find the problem is more the LNB arm then the dish. The snow tends to slide off the dish, but often builds on the arm until it covers the LNB. One of my friends picked up a dish heater but still had problems when the snow piled on the arm.

 

[smakovits]

you are right, it was the first snow of the year and it was very wet and sticky. I am more than certain that this is what caused for the issue as normal snow never seems to be too big of an issue, however, there have been a few other times the snow caused an outage and I was just trying to see what a cheap easy and effective solution might be. Sure it doesnt mean I will run out and do anything as the signal is now back, but just knowing I have an option for a solution is a good thing. If it happens again or becomes troublesome, I might just invest.

 

[Bob Haller]

i had snow outages where there was NO snow on the LNBs but the pan was covered. This in fact is the most common outage....

snow on part of pan can wipe out some transponders

 

[David_Levin]

Pipe heater for the Arm ?

For the arm, I've been considering pipe heater (for water pipes in unheated areas):

Amazon.com: M-D Building Products 4309 3-Foot Pipe Heating Cable with Thermostat: Home Improvement: Reviews, Prices & more
Find Heat Tape and other Pipe Insulation at Aubuchon Hardware

(please note, that I haven't actually tried this yet)

 

[Sparky29]

I used a black plastic bag over the whole dish and arm last winter and it worked well. Tape it closed at the at the bottom to keep out moisture. The snow tends to slide right off the plastic. Use black as it helps melt any snow that does stick when the sun comes out.

 

[n0aaa]

Broom

I can reach it with a broom from the bathroom window. Minor pain, but it seldom happens, and solves the problem completely. (I cuss if I drop the screen onto the garage roof!)

 

[Phil T]

I ordered a HotShot heater from SatPro. The install was real easy. It looks like it may get it's first test on Thursday when that Pacific storm moves here.

 

[old corps]

I used a black plastic bag over the whole dish and arm last winter and it worked well. Tape it closed at the at the bottom to keep out moisture. The snow tends to slide right off the plastic. Use black as it helps melt any snow that does stick when the sun comes out.

I tried this and immediately had a problem after the 1st snow fall where I seldom had problems with snow in the past causing signal outage. The snow turned to a coating of ice and good-bye signal! Almost broke my neck crawling around on the roof to remove the bag. Just my experience.
I now have a Katz heating pad from Amazon affixed to the back of the 1004.1 dish. If I have a build up of snow that causes a signal problem I can melt it off in a couple of minutes.

Ed

 

[travispearson]

Black trash bag and duct tape works perfect!

 

[Frank Jr.]

There has been some humorous posts about this in this thread. May not be so funny to those that have the problem though. I guess I am lucky that my dish is placed where I can easily get my hands on it. Although we normally don't get much snow down here I was surprised how much snow it took before I lost signal. I posted this picture last year in the FTA Forum. If your dish is not where you can readily get to it, like HiFi said a warm supersoaker might do the trick.

 

[DishVisor]

Try the Dish Visor, it clips on the the top of the dish and stops the snow from ever landing on the dish in the first place. Easier than heaters, and does not require you to keep getting on your house to wax it or spray it.

 

[n0qcu]

2nd time this 6 year old thread has been revived.

 

[navychop]

Don't you just love the UNDEAD?

 

[boba]

SCOTT please lock old threads more than a year old contain useless information.

 

[fbara]

All groovygoat does is post replies about dish armour (misspelled on purpose). It's the poster who should be locked for spam.

 

[Phil T]

Since this thread is 6 years old, here is an update. My HotShot heater is still working well after 6 years. I have never lost signal due to snow which is something since I am in Colorado. I do have to say that I noticed that the element is beginning to flake and peel off, so not sure how much longer it will last.

 

[ChadT41]

Best solution I have found is living in AZ.