Dishes + Snow + Ice = :(

[SpiffWilkie]

How would one go about keeping snow and ice from accumulating on a dish? We had our first snow today since I set up my dish and it built up quite a bit on the dish. I could get some signals ok, others not so much. Is there anything I can do to prevent the buildup, or am I destined to look like a crazy, going out there to sweep off the dish?

 

[toucan-man]

How would one go about keeping snow and ice from accumulating on a dish? We had our first snow today since I set up my dish and it built up quite a bit on the dish. I could get some signals ok, others not so much. Is there anything I can do to prevent the buildup, or am I destined to look like a crazy, going out there to sweep off the dish?

I just sweep off the snow as I'm collecting the laundry off the line.

It depends on the type of snow, whether I go out there and brush it off or not. Sometimes the signals don't seem to mind.

 

[SpiffWilkie]

This was very sticky snow. I had about a 1.5" buildup and a little layer of ice under it.

 

[toucan-man]

This was very sticky snow. I had about a 1.5" buildup and a little layer of ice under it.

Yeah, I try to get that kind of stuff off right away. I don't want a huge layer of crust frozen in place. With a little brushing here and there, my dishes have stayed clean the whole winter, but then this is my first winter.

 

[turbosat]

Not a big problem here, but they are predicting 1-3" for us north of Birmingham after midnite. My c-band on AMC6 may catch some, if it happens, but I'll point my 10' to the west and hope it rolls off it lol. The primestars prob won't catch any since they're not a very big target.

 

[Inno]

Essentially be only as rough as absolutely necessary. If it will fall off with a light brushing, then lightly brush it.
If it's ice buildup it's probably not a huge problem but rather than trying to chip it off, I'd use a heat gun or hairdryer...........if it's enough to be a problem. Most time's it's not an issue so it's ok just to leave it.

 

[Mr Tony]

if you can sweep the snow off then do it. We got 8 inches of snow Thursday and I had to use the brrom and snow rake around the dish because the dish sits so low on the roof if I moved off of true south it would have got stuck in the snow...oh wait it was already in the snow
My C-Band dish (at near true south) collected snow but it slid right off.

The ice can be the worst then the snow...super soaker with hot water works

by the way...here is what my dish looked like after getting a fair amount of snow

 

[turbosat]

Talk about snowbound! Mine would just have to stay stuck if it was on a roof!

 

[Mr Tony]

that is on the roof. But I just climb on the stepladder and its up only 10 feet up

 

[Anole]

...super soaker with hot water works

Sounds like a great solution.
Speaking of which, is there anything you could put in the water to help?
I'm thinking maybe a little bio-degradable laundry detergent, perhaps?
Might lower the freezing temp of the water, or make the surface slippery, or just clean the dish?
And all it'll do is make the plants grow.... whenever that season comes.

Love to rub it in department:
Today, I was prepping a dish for harvesting next week.
It was 85°F, and low humidity.
Very lovely day to be out 'n about. -

 

[Lak7]

For a Ku Dish, just put a large plastic bag over the Dish, even if it sticks, a light tap usually takes care of it.
A BUD is tough, but if you know the weather is coming, a roll of plastic may be in order.

 

[Lak7]

Love to rub it in department:
Today, I was prepping a dish for harvesting next week.
It was 85°F, and low humidity.
Very lovely day to be out 'n about. -

Yep, just heard from my parents, they are on the other side of the Hill from you, Palm Springs.
They said it's just beautiful.

 

[turbosat]

it happened!

Some parts of central and north AL got 2-4" of snow this morning, hovering around freezing so it won't be around long, here's one shot from the dish farm while the snow was still coming:


Should make Anole and Iceberg laugh at what we call snow...
I see I gotta adjust my red lnbf on the motorized primestar, the optional heat-ray is not focused properly to melt the snow!

 

[TRG]

A while back when I lived in the Pacific Northwest I had a pizza dish and subscription to DirecTV. We used to get ice storms all the time and it would kill my signal. My solution was to mount a 150 watt flood light behind the dish about 1/4 inch away from the pan. I had a switch in the garage I could flip on when I needed to melt the ice. It would take about thirty minutes or so to get the heaviest buildup melted.

 

[voomvoom]

It's snowing here in the middle of Georgia at 36 degrees, and has been for close to 2 hours now. It looks like it wants to stick, but so far it's melting, and so much the better. Got some really nice looking, thumb size flakes coming down right now. It sure is purty!

 

[Anole]

Turbo -

Man, that's a beautiful picture!
You ought to save it and use it next Xmas as your avatar! - :up

 

[Blindowl1234]

After several ice and snow storms I figured out dumping several buckets of hot water on the dish took care of it! It took a couple of trips from the house with hot water to melt the ice from 3 dishes but I had tv! My neighbors already think I'm crazy probably so that probably didn't surprise them either lol. Blind