Dish covers

[jeglinas]

I live in illinois and have directv hd I was thinking of getting a dish cover for winter time any body use them and what are the results. I most worried about snow sticking and blocking the picture with the hd dish on the roof.

 

[talos4]

In all honesty I really don't think you'll need it.

I'm about 90 miles north of Chicago, We had about 100" of snow last winter. IIRC we probably lost total signal for about 1-2 hours total all winter.

At one point during one blizzard my dish collected 6-8" on it and we didn't lose the signal. That's not to say it was perfect but it was watchable considering what it was doing outside.

 

[jeglinas]

The reason I was asking is because the old dish would wet snow would stick to it. It was easy to wipe off because it was mounted on a pole outside the sliding doors. The hd dish ison the roof

 

[Van]

Covers are hit or miss in my professional opinion from when I installed. Theyre a pain to install and after a year or two the fabric and plastic starts breaking down. Snow can build up on them as well if the storm starts out with rain or a wet snow and the storm is coming out of the southwest.

When I lived in Michigan and had dish there was one instance of snow sticking to the dish and it did cause interuption but only for about 15 mins before the snow slid off. During my 6 years of working for dish there was only one winter and one storm where I was dispatched to handle snow build up on dishes and in those instances it was from a storm that had come out of the southwest with a heavy wet snow that froze.

 

[NutFlush920]

I live up here in Green Bay, WI and an installer up here suggested spraying the dish with Pam every few weeks during winter so that any snow slides off and doesn't stick. I haven't tried it though.

 

[Big Dawg 23]

I had Dishnetwork a few years back and was advised by one of their techs not to spray anything on it.

 

[jtwex]

You can google search this product if you want good rain/snow fade protection or lightly spray Pam/silicone once a month on the dish.
I couldn't find this product listed at our sponsors sites & didn't want to post the link. This stuff is a mariner's miracle & should last you a full season.

 

[Bosco10021]

I use one of these and love it.


Satellite Dish Covers - WedgieCovers.com - Satellite Dish Cover

 

[Van]

You can google search this product if you want good rain/snow fade protection or lightly spray Pam/silicone once a month on the dish.
I couldn't find this product listed at our sponsors sites & didn't want to post the link. This stuff is a mariner's miracle & should last you a full season.

This product wont stop rain or snow fade nor will anything else on the market or off. Rain/snow fade is caused by atmospheric conditions that can be right over your home or 0 to 100 miles away. What the spray can do is help with minimizing friction and allow the snow to fall off easier and would be beneficial in more southern climates where the dish is facing further up.

 

[NutFlush920]

This product wont stop rain or snow fade nor will anything else on the market or off. Rain/snow fade is caused by atmospheric conditions that can be right over your home or 0 to 100 miles away. What the spray can do is help with minimizing friction and allow the snow to fall off easier and would be beneficial in more southern climates where the dish is facing further up.

This is exactly correct. The spray is good because, it allows for the wet packy snow to slide right off the dish rather then build up and cutting out signal. I am interested now to try this myself. Maybe I'll buy a can of Pam for this year.

 

[jtwex]

This product wont stop rain or snow fade nor will anything else on the market or off. Rain/snow fade is caused by atmospheric conditions that can be right over your home or 0 to 100 miles away. What the spray can do is help with minimizing friction and allow the snow to fall off easier and would be beneficial in more southern climates where the dish is facing further up.

Agreed, all the silicone in the world wont bring back a signal lost in a heavy rain. For roof mounts in the mid-west it lets the snow slide right off the dish. I've been a customer since Sputnik & can tell you it beats a ladder & broom in December. Many of the subs who actually move prefer having a lawn/garden mount at their new location so they can easily remove any snow that accumulates. That early crap that doesn't know whether to rain or freeze is the worst.

 

[talos4]

The problem with something like PAM, is that it allows the accumulation of dirt and such much faster than without it.

The dirt will stick to the PAM and not wash off in the rain. The dish surface has a slight texture to it and the PAM and dirt gets in all the nooks and crannys.

Eventually it will build up enough to degrade the signal. It would be very difficult to clean off.

I would go through this winter and see how it goes.

 

[Van]

I had a customer who sanded off the paint and buffed out the metal surface then repainted it with a high gloss exterior paint, no idea if he ever had a problem but he said he did it becuase of the textured surface and didnt want ice building up on it.

 

[Kirby Baker]

Use a plastic trash bag. Works quite well, and its cheap!

 

[jeglinas]

Thanks everybody for the answers. Kirby a trash bag..On the lnb's to?... hmm.

 

[Kirby Baker]

Yep, thats what I do, a big bag over the whole dish and lnb assembly, and tie it off below. Snow has a hard time sticking to it, and if it does, the wind usually knocks it right off. So far I have never had to replace a bag mid-winter.

 

[Zynergi]

I painted my 18" dish Glossy Black (was bored) and had no abnormal issues with it, plan to paint my Slimline when I get free time. I did have issues with a Dish 500 when I painted it though (used prepaid)