Removing Ice on Actuator

[bpalone]

Just used this method this morning and it worked great. My hand got little cold though.

Make a mixture of 1/3 water and 2/3 rubbing alcohol. You can put in a spray bottle or do like I did, just mix a small batch and take it in a jar out to the dish. The spray bottle method, lets you keep a supply on hand ready to go.

The place I wanted to deice was the inner sleeve on my actuator. When you have freezing rain or wet snow, you can have ice build up there and cause issues. I poured the mixture on the ice and let it set for a bit, then used my hand rub around and be sure that the ice was gone.

Just thought I would pass it along. Found the mixture recipe on line looking for something to remove ice. Had thought about buying a commercial deicer, decided to try out the home brew. It can also be used on car windows and locks.

 

[KE4EST]

Great info! That is a neat trick!

 

[waylew]

Windshield washer fluid would probably work too.

 

[Magic Static]

Windshield washer fluid would probably work too.

It would work, but leave a blue or pink residue unless kept cleaned up. Washer solvent doesn't usually have that high an alcohol content and would be a little less efficient.

 

[waylew]

It would work, but leave a blue or pink residue unless kept cleaned up. Washer solvent doesn't usually have that high an alcohol content and would be a little less efficient.

Course not a problem for me,I got boots

 

[primestar31]

Go to Home Depot and pick up a heat tape. Wrap it around the actuator, and tape it in place.

Problem solved.

Of course you'll need 120 volts out at the dish for this solution.

 

[bpalone]

Go to Home Depot and pick up a heat tape. Wrap it around the actuator, and tape it in place.

Problem solved.

Of course you'll need 120 volts out at the dish for this solution.

Problem being that if you place the heat tape on the inner sleeve, it won't make but one retraction of the actuator.

Now, would there be enough heat transfer from the outer sleeve to inner sleeve? Don't know for sure, but I would question it. Where I am, it is only an issue 2 or 3 times a year, if that often. So, most measures such as boots and heat tapes are all overkill.

 

[Cham]

I have a boot on my actuator, but I pull it to the top (eye end) before winter and spray the inner sleeve with WD40 before winter and re-install it, helps to keep moisture and rust away during the fall/spring transtional periods I find. Never had troubles in the really cold (-30 type weather) or summer of course, but rainy, snowy, damp freezing weather can certainly be problematic if there is any ice or frost building up on the inner sleeve.

 

[wvman]

Just used this method this morning and it worked great. My hand got little cold though.

Make a mixture of 1/3 water and 2/3 rubbing alcohol. You can put in a spray bottle or do like I did, just mix a small batch and take it in a jar out to the dish. The spray bottle method, lets you keep a supply on hand ready to go.

The place I wanted to deice was the inner sleeve on my actuator. When you have freezing rain or wet snow, you can have ice build up there and cause issues. I poured the mixture on the ice and let it set for a bit, then used my hand rub around and be sure that the ice was gone.

Just thought I would pass it along. Found the mixture recipe on line looking for something to remove ice. Had thought about buying a commercial deicer, decided to try out the home brew. It can also be used on car windows and locks.

Old trick I used to use was PAM cooking spray. I sprayed the surface of what needed to be kept ice free, and it just slides right off. You can use it on DirecTV or Dish steel dishes to keep them free of ice. Any steel or aluminum surface could be sprayed with it. For wire mesh dishes, I bought a 24x6 inch foam snow removal tool for flat bed trucks, stuck it along the outer edge of the dish and marked it with a pencil.

You can then cut it with a razor knife along the line, and you have a foam scraper that fits the contour of the dish. If you put it on one of those aluminum telescopic poles, you have a nice scraper that won't damage the screen. My pole can be telescoped out to 15 feet, which is enough to reach most dishes. One word of caution. If it's a light dusty snow and you stand directly below the dish, you'll end up with about half the snow down your shirt. It tends to let loose like an avalanche.

 

[Titanium]

wvman, I usually agree with most posts, but not on the suggestion to apply PAM cooking spray on surfaces.

I have had to work on gross, sticky, rancid, smelly, dead bug covered dishes and hardware that had been sprayed with PAM.

Please do not apply PAM or other bio based spray to your dish. In the summer heat it turns into a sticky mess that does not clean-up easily!

 

[wvman]

wvman, I usually agree with most posts, but not on the suggestion to apply PAM cooking spray on surfaces.

I have had to work on gross, sticky, rancid, smelly, dead bug covered dishes and hardware that had been sprayed with PAM.

Please do not apply PAM or other bio based spray to your dish. In the summer heat it turns into a sticky mess that does not clean-up easily!

I never ran into that problem, but when spring rolls around and the weather warms up, we get a lot of rain and the rain has usually washed most of it off before it gets hot. In a climate that doesn't get much rain, I could understand how that would be a problem. Maybe I should have mentioned that. A non-bio based product would be a better solution.