Dish doesn't do metal roofs?

[multnomah]

Is a pole mount an option?

I have no aesthetic objections to a pole, but even if it sat right next to the house, it would still have to be roof height (30') to clear the trees in the back. Wouldn't that be as much trouble to service as a side-mount?

If the mylar guy goes up there, does he know how to tune the dish?

No, he just knows how to hang mylar, but he is a smart guy and can follow directions.

 

[multnomah]

Putting a dish that high up would likely have issues with alignment due to wind, probably just a repeat problem.

You're right. The current dishes have some protection from the dormer and from the roof itself, but a side mount would be more exposed to the elements. Do big dishes have more problems with wind than small ones?

 

[rcdallas]

Well I haven't physically seen your property, but typically you would mount the dish on a pole away from the house in the yard order to obtain Line of sight.

Yeah a bigger dish = more windload.

 

[multnomah]

Well I haven't physically seen your property, but typically you would mount the dish on a pole away from the house in the yard order to obtain Line of sight.

Yeah a bigger dish = more windload.

It might have to be a 40' pole then, with a big dish on top. Is that practical?

 

[multnomah]

You're right. The current dishes have some protection from the dormer and from the roof itself, but a side mount would be more exposed to the elements. Do big dishes have more problems with wind than small ones?

Or, another alternative, a 10' pole but 40' from the house -- is that practical? Where would the coax go?

 

[rcdallas]

No sir... not practical. Again I don't know your property nor what all your options could be.

I'd just find a local retailer to find a solution for you.

10' pole 40' from house, yes that is practical, coax would get buried.

 

[multnomah]

No sir... not practical. Again I don't know your property nor what all your options could be.

I'd just find a local retailer to find a solution for you.

10' pole 40' from house, yes that is practical, coax would get buried.

I understand you've taken it as far as you can without actually seeing the property. You've given me a much better idea of what I can do and what I can't do. Many thanks!!

 

[rcdallas]

You are welcome. Some people need three dishes or more to get a line of sight scattered all over the property. I've done it.

 

[multnomah]

You are welcome. Some people need three dishes or more to get a line of sight scattered all over the property. I've done it.

I'll float that idea too. I think if yesterday's installer had been as resourceful as you, I would have had my new dish today. If tomorrow's install doesn't pan out, I will take your advice and pay the extra $$ to have a local retailer do it.

Again, thanks for the help!

 

[iwc5893]

Just how tall are those trees?

 

[multnomah]

Just how tall are those trees?

Looking straight out from the dormer window, I can just manage to see over the top of them, and the dormer window is about 35' off the ground. The one directly facing the house has already been topped, long before I came here, and every few years I trim the suckers off and take it down to 25', but it qucikly grows back. If I put up a pole along the back fence, where there is a 50' empty space between the two houses behind me, I would be behind the trees, so that might also be an option.

 

[Jared Twomey]

You guys obviously know this business well, so here's another question. Therer is space on the side of the house above the trees for a dish, and I just got through paying someone last year to hang mylar reflectors up there to scare away the woodpeckers. The gutters start at about 30', so I guess that would require a 40' ladder. The guy yesterday said that installers aren't required to use ladders that high. Is that correct? If so, could I hire the mylar guy, who is bonded and will do it for maybe $200, to do the ladder part of the installation, with the DISH guy staying inside?

As an installer, I carry a 28' ladder as the largest ladder I have. And I don't go any higher than that. If I am required to go higher, it is using a lift, and at the cost of the customer.

 

[rich88]

So I phoned DISH to cancel my Eurochannel subscription, and they said, of course we do metal roofs! No problem! They gave me a time slot for Sunday morning with a different contractor and said there will be no charge for the service, and no 24-month required commitment.

Farmsatguy and Topcat0399 have convinced me that I am facing serious trade-offs in this installation, so maybe the next installer will refuse also. I won't start counting my chickens yet.

Farmsatguy, I understand that my original installer might be trying to get more money from DISH for a 'new install'. It's a tricky one, and I think they owe it to him. I still owe $100 on my 622/HD upgrade, so I think that if this Sunday's installation doesn't go well, I will just hire the guy at the retail rate myself.

Must have been the same CSR who told my my 4-room new connect that not only could he get a 5th room BUT ALSO Wild Blue Internet as part of the "Free Standard Installation".

 

[Claude Greiner]

Now, he says that I will have to cancel my service with DISH and take out a new account in my wife's name in order to make it a 'new' install so he can work on it, or else pay time and materials for the installation myself, which he things will run $200 - 300. Todays install would have been free provided I committed to DISH for another two years.

Thats Fraud on the part of the retailer!

The reason why I will not work on a metal roof is because once you put a hole in it, there is no way to correctly seal it unless you replace the entire roof panel!

 

[dishcomm]

I had ordered an upgrade to my service today (replacing a DISH 500 with a DISH 1000) so I could get Eurovision on 118.7. I was deeply disappointed when the installer refused to do it because I have a metal roof, and he says DISH doesn't allow work on metal roofs. What really upset me, though, is that he took a look at my system spsecs on the 622 and determined that a) the LNB on 61.5 is failiing and b) I do not have an LNB for 129.

Since he is categorically forbidden to work on metal roofs, he would not fix the failing LNB. Instead, he gave me an old and badly weathered one that he had in his truck, and said there would be no charge. His supervisor backed him up and said the work order would be written up as 'no line of sight' even though I have unobstructetd acceess from the roof.

There are trees along the side of the house.

I asked where this policy came from and he said it came down from DISH and all installers would do the same thing.

If this is true, then I can never have any repairs or upgrades done.

Does anyone know about this policy, or have any of you found a way around it?

Unfortunately for you we are forbidden by DIsh policy to install a dish on a metal roof. The issues are threeofold. One, metal roofs are installed on slats. Those are 1X4's....Too thin to maintain a secure mount.. Two..Metal roofs are very slippery and are an obvious safety hazard. Three..Drilling holes in a metal roof is very bad. Why your dish is insatlled on your metal roof is a mystery to me.
I do not install dishes on metal roofs....
In your case though, I would have gotten up there if I could do so without jeopardizing my safety( do you have any shoe glue...JK)...and fixed the problem. However I would have had you sign off that you preferd the dish in it's current location. You see, Dish has a "last man there" policy. That means the last one there "owns" the job. That means if a qc inspection is doen and the job is in violation of the specs, guess who gets back charged for the whole shebang/ You got it, the last guy there. since a metalof install is in violation , the last guy there technically has to relocate the dish or face backcharge or even disciplinary action.
Customers such as yourself can help by letting Dish know that you object to this nonsense.

 

[Hall]

Since he is categorically forbidden to work on metal roofs, he would not fix the failing LNB. Instead, he gave me an old and badly weathered one that he had in his truck, and said there would be no charge. His supervisor backed him up and said the work order would be written up as 'no line of sight'...

I don't know what Dish's policy really is in regards to metal roofs and from the responses from installers so far, it seems no one else does either ! The fact that the installer put "no line of sight" on the work-order yet he told you it's because he isn't allowed to work on metal roofs, I'd be suspicious.... If he's not allowed on metal roofs, why didn't he put that on the work-order ? I say because he'd be dinged for not doing the job and that his excuse isn't actually valid.

 

[iwc5893]

I don't know what Dish's policy really is in regards to metal roofs and from the responses from installers so far, it seems no one else does either ! The fact that the installer put "no line of sight" on the work-order yet he told you it's because he isn't allowed to work on metal roofs, I'd be suspicious.... If he's not allowed on metal roofs, why didn't he put that on the work-order ? I say because he'd be dinged for not doing the job and that his excuse isn't actually valid.

Based upon what the OP has said so far, it sounds like it was a No Line of Sight from everywhere the installer was allowed to mount the dish.

 

[n1wbd]

I think the installer did right by just giving you a used LNB and pretty much saying do it yourself.

Whoever put the existing dish on the metal roof is an idiot.

Gee I have a metal roof...A dish 500 and a dish 300 looking at 61.5 on a tripod and my installer put it in. Also Dish themselves came up and worked on it for a warrenty issue no problem at all. I've had it now since 2001 and was recently upgraded for HD in April. My steel roof is over the top of my old shingle roof.

Bob

 

[TalonDancer]

Unfortunately for you we are forbidden by DIsh policy to install a dish on a metal roof. The issues are threeofold. One, metal roofs are installed on slats. Those are 1X4's....Too thin to maintain a secure mount.. Two..Metal roofs are very slippery and are an obvious safety hazard. Three..Drilling holes in a metal roof is very bad. ....

Luckily for me both of the installers for my 2 Dishes didn't take "forbidden" too literally

BTW your list of 'why not to install on a metal roof' is pretty err.... flimsy
1 - Not all metal roofs are installed over 1x4 "slats" (e.g. mine is installed on 4" x 6" cedar purlins). And even if the metal roof is on 1x4s, those 1x4 are attached to something much stronger somewhere (e.g. rafters, trusses, roof decking, etc.).

2- Metal roofs are more slippery than composite shingle. But having installed my own 3:12 metal roof I certainly would not consider it a "safety hazard" to go up there. IMHO The slope can be more important than the material.

3 - If drilling holes in a metal roof is so "bad", why did the roofing manufacturer's instruction tell me to do it hundreds of times?

Talon Dancer

 

[Hall]

Based upon what the OP has said so far, it sounds like it was a No Line of Sight from everywhere the installer was allowed to mount the dish.

He says he's not allowed to "work" on a metal roof, saying that's Dish policy. Some installers are saying it is allowed, while others are saying it's not.

As the OP later added, it's a metal roof, three stories high, and a steep angle. No doubt every other installer would give it one look and say "No LOS". As is standard operating procedure, it would seem, get a 2nd installer out and he'll say "no problem".