Directv installed a Slim Line dish a few months ago. I came home to the dish almost on the ground from all the rain. How much concrete should I need to fix this?
Slimline Pole Concrete
- Thread starter StarScan
- Start date
- Latest activity Latest activity:
- Replies 29
- Views 3K
- Status
to Satelliteguys StarScan!You should have Directv come back and install the dish correctly if you can't get it realigned yourself.
Get the pole straight & true, then have DirecTV do the final adjustments on the dish.
I think he's gonna try to do it himself .... which is perfectly fine.
Otherwise, he should call D* and get them back out and do the pole as well as the point, seeing they obviously didn't do it correct the first time.
Don't all you installers use concrete on all your pole mounts ?
They should, but of course we do not know the whole story from the OP as to why the installer did not. It is not that hard to get the metal pole straight & Plumb. As for getting the dish at the right Azimuth & angles, it can be a little harder, depending on their setup.
If the pole was 3' in the ground, it should not have moved, unless they only placed the pole 1 to 1 1/2 feet in the ground, with a large diameter hole. If the installer had used a Post Hole digger, and only went say 18" in the ground, and tamped the earth in as they went, the whole assembly should not moved. Sounds that it is possibly that the whole was too large to begin with as I stated before, and pole not far enough down in the ground.
Jimbo,
It is a case of ignorance that can be fixed.........but stupid is forever.
No amount of concrete will fix some installations. The pole has to continue into firm earth and be dented or deformed within the concrete to prevent spin when the winds blows. The pole must be plumb when the whole think is finished.
From what has been described I would say the pole was not driven into firm soil and the dish was put on the pole before the concrete had hardened. This produced a crack that rain began to flow through producing the fail of the rig.
A fix = break up the concrete and add one bag of quick set without water. While holding the pole plumb pound the concrete / dry mix with a maul until it holds the pole up. With a wood block to protect the pole end...drive it into firm soil. Tune the dish and pound the concrete some more. Ground water will set the rig up in a day....maybe some sticks for temp support couldn't hurt. If this happens again look at how water flows in the area of the rig...maybe move it.....get it done before the ground freezes.
Joe
Good call ...
I always drill a hole in the pole and put a bolt thru the end before placing to prevent the spinning of the pole.
If the pole was just driven into undisturbed soil, it would last for quite a while, until you get someone standing there pushing back and forth on it. You just have to have a long enough piece of steel tubing to drive into the ground far enough.
Personally I would like to place the pole for anything that it will be used for, at least four feet min, especially living in the Midwest, where you tend to get frost heave in the Winter.
If you have a Arc or Mig Welder, you can also weld the bolts on, vs. drilling into the pole to attach.
Where they put it has a lot of sand. The end of the pole is pinched and I put two bolts through it in two directions before I poured the concrete. I put the dish on a brick roof mount temporarily. How long should I wait before I put the dish back on the pole? I poured the concrete today.
I normally give it about 20-30 minutes then pop the dish on. Quikcrete is pretty amazing stuff if you didn't flood it with water it sits up quickly and nice! Depending on how "north" you are you're prolly getting the rain I'm seeing on and off today
A whole lot quicker, then trying to drill through the pole.Why would you go to the trouble of welding the bolt ?
- Status
