Do installers go on the roof in the winter?

[sbsi]

the answer is no, maybe yes depending on who you talk to and Dish policy on roofs.

i spoke with a dish installer and he told me they cannot climb on the roof due to lawsuits and protecting the staffs from falling. if the sat dish require climbing the roof, then they will refuse service. but, there are other ways to install the dish. unless, the dish is currently on the roof and needs replacement, then they can climb up then rewiring the entire home for hours.

 

[navychop]

All my dishes have been installed on my roofs. I think I'd go with a gable mount if I did it again, although I've never had any trouble. Of course, when the installers arrive, they find I've got coax laying on the roof near where there is a good LoS, the coax fed into my house where I wanted it, all the way down to faceplates where the boxes are to go. And then I tip them, too! They seem to like me......

 

[kb2vgp]

Not to be rude butwould you access a roof with a few feet of snow on it?

Yes actually, a roof with a few feet of snow on it is SAFER than a roof with just an inch or two on it. Living down wind of Lake Ontario for over 30 years, when it snows, it snows by the foot usually from November through March. I've done installs/service calls on roofs with a few feet of snow on them and felt completely safe. If you slip you'll likely just fall into the pile of snow that is on the roof. Now granted I would only go on roofs on one story houses, not way up on a multiple story house or a roof with a steep pitch.

Now to comment on another post, sometimes you do have to get up on the roof to shovel it off. Roof raking only goes so far especially when you have about 3 feet of snow on the roof. You can begin raking a roof from the ground, but to get the majority of the snow off the roof, you have to get up there and shovel it off. The job actually gets more dangerous as you get closer to finishing it! But by then all the snow you've shoveled off is now on the side of the house giving you something soft to land in! Having lived in an area that receives over 150"+ of snow a season, a few feet of snow is no big deal.

 

[TG2]

I won't allow the dish to be installed on the roof. I've had too many instances where I needed to clean previous dishnetwork & directv dishes of ice or snow and wouldn't have been able to without a thaw happening. I can't figure out why anyone would want the dish up there ...

mind you, my first DTV install was done by myself and the reason I didn't go with DishNetwork way back then, was that DirecTV was the only one to offer the "self install" option. (yeah, THAT long ago)

 

[dwarren2]

I won't allow the dish to be installed on the roof. I've had too many instances where I needed to clean previous dishnetwork & directv dishes of ice or snow and wouldn't have been able to without a thaw happening. I can't figure out why anyone would want the dish up there ..

There are a lot of us where that is the only option. I have a line of tall trees on the south side of my property line. For LOS it has to be the roof. However, as I said earlier, my 1000.4 was installed on the edge of the roof, so it is accessible by ladder. Since the snow we get here tends to be dryer, I only loose signal maybe once a year or so.

 

[Frank7004]

Yes, I think there may be some misunderstanding in this thread. A roof mount and walking on the roof to mount a dish are two different things. I've mounted many dishes on the roof in the winter, from the ladder. Dish policy also is that a dish is not to be mounted over a living space. So, to walk on a roof....really, most of the time it isn't necessary to begin with.

 

[JimVT]

I agree some have no other option but times change since my new 1K.4 EA is on the side of the house. However, twelve years ago when I installed my first dish I found I had to mount it on my roof to clear a very tall sandstone building to the south-west. Couldn't find LOS unless I got above the peak of the roof but the good news is the tower at the north end of the same building blocked 129 west so the 61.5 dish couldn't just be repointed hence the new EA.

 

[TG2]

There are a lot of us where that is the only option. I have a line of tall trees on the south side of my property line. For LOS it has to be the roof. However, as I said earlier, my 1000.4 was installed on the edge of the roof, so it is accessible by ladder. Since the snow we get here tends to be dryer, I only loose signal maybe once a year or so.

me.. I'd be bustin' out the chain saw!!

Actually ... before I upgraded to HD ... my front receiver and downstairs 625 was running off an older Dish 500 that I had, and mounted to a piece of 2x4 ... which I then *roped* to the end of the deck out the upstairs kitchen door. Hey it was like that for nearly 2 years without a problem.. and even with snow I could easily access it still since it was attached to something I could stand on and not call it a ladder.

Ladders and I don't mix. In 2002 I fell off one while being stung by wasps that had made residence in my old house's attic. 1 dislocated shoulder and fractured ankle later, I've decided not to go up on ladders unless I really really really (really really) have too..

And I get it about line of site issues, but its always made me wonder, when LoS isn't an issue, why people would want it roof mounted.