Snow Removal

[Yes616]

Try a Snowball

Does not work if all the outside faucets and/or hoses are also frozen!!!

Same problem here. All of the hose lines are shut off for the season.

My biggest problem is with the 61.5 dish for most HD. It's aimed to the southeast and when we get significant snow here, that is where the wind is coming from. If it's sticky, wet snow, it sticks to the face of the dish.

The dish is on a 10 foot tri-pod on the peak of the roof and about 25 feet from the closest place I can get to it without going up on the roof. Not an option with all that snow up there. It had to be up that high due to all the trees.

Within about 10 shots with a snowball does the trick for me. My snowball hitting pct. is just about 0.125.

That dish heater does sound like a good idea though. Do they have a solar powered model so no extra wires would be needed? That would be nice.

 

[mikekohl]

You could wait for Spring!

While living in Alaska, I thought about using PAM, but thought even more about the consequences of putting a food material on an antenna surface.
Could be dangerous to both you and your dish. It attracts all kinds of critters in various sizes, including deer, moose, and bears. Even if it causes a clumsy raccoon to hang on your dish, it's probably a bad idea.

A time tested solution from the Great North Woods works well here in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Take a look at Skyvision's latest catalog, around page 31, for a device called an Ice Zapper. Consists of some heater element strips that attach to the back of a solid antenna, and appropriate electrical cord, with a thermostat that shuts the thing off when it has done its job.
Supposed to be effective on solid antennas anywhere from 18 to 48 inches (that's 46 to 120 cm for the English system impaired).

My personal solution would use one of these Ice Zappers on back of the antenna, and an application of either Rain X, King's solution or possibly even Ski or Automotive wax on the front side of the reflector. The latter item to keep things from sticking in the first place, and the heater to keep it from freezing / and-or / thawing the surface.

 

[kstuart]

A time tested solution from the Great North Woods works well here in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Take a look at Skyvision's latest catalog, around page 31, for a device called an Ice Zapper. Consists of some heater element strips that attach to the back of a solid antenna, and appropriate electrical cord, with a thermostat that shuts the thing off when it has done its job.
Supposed to be effective on solid antennas anywhere from 18 to 48 inches (that's 46 to 120 cm for the English system impaired).

It turns out that the Ice Zapper thermostat is not reliable, so they are just finishing the first production run without a thermostat (instead use an outdoor Christmas lights extension with switch to turn it on when a storm is predicted).
The first new ones will be available from Skyvision starting January 15th.

 

[mikekohl]

A telephone call to Skyvision today confirms some of the above, but with these clarifications:

They will be offering two models, with the new one available on or about January 18.

There is nothing wrong with the thermostat version; but some explanation about unusual situations such as you have in northern California is in order.
The thermostat is normally set to turn off when the temperature is somewhere just above freezing, to about 36 or 37 degrees. This varies by unit, and is probably a 4-5 degree window.

In normal "cold" locations, the results are great. Works as advertised in the vast majority of situations. In northern California, you don't stay cold very long. Snow can dump on antennas and stay there for awhile, despite outdoor temperatures in the high 30s---just high enough to turn off the thermostat.
In your situation, the new non-thermostat version that can be manually turned off (by pulling the plug) would be a better solution, and is encouraged.

Another possible unusual situation can develop when antennas are installed on top of roofs covering poorly insulated attics, or next to a window. Waste heat can raise the temperature behind the antenna to a similar point, shutting the thermostat off. If this is the situation, the non-thermostat model would be advised.

Further sourcing could possibly find a thermostat with a more critical (1 or 2 degree window), but it would further increase the price of the system.
The non-thermostat device again may be the solution for a number of situations.

 

[kstuart]

In northern California, you don't stay cold very long. Snow can dump on antennas and stay there for awhile, despite outdoor temperatures in the high 30s---just high enough to turn off the thermostat.
In your situation, the new non-thermostat version that can be manually turned off (by pulling the plug) would be a better solution, and is encouraged.

Exactly the situation this morning - no signal on the dish that was using a Zapper, due to lots of very wet mushy snow mixed with rain water (even heavier than normal snow) at about 34 degrees.

The other dish with the Perfect Dish heater with the indoor transformer did activate at 35 degrees, so undoubtedly, they use the higher cost thermostat. (But their list prices are indeed higher.)