Snow and Ice on dish

[SandFarmer]

For snow, I use to use trash bags with the seam pointing up pulled taught between the LNB and the top of the dish and the sides kinda loose. That made an A-frame tent of sorts and the snow slide right off or shake in the wind. The thing you want to do is keep the snow from building up at the arm and dish connection. Plus the dark of the bag heats up under most, even cloudy, conditions. So the snow that did not slide off melted quickly. The years we had big snow I tied a string to the bag at the top of the LNB and when pulled the bag would puff up enough to knock the snow off.

Otherwise, I use a SuperSoaker filled with hot water. I've gotten really good at hitting the dish with no problems.

Now I have a clear plastic cowling attached to the top of the dish. That was suggested by D¡SH. It works OK. Still have to break out the SuperSoaker every so often.

Sent from my SM-T290 using the SatelliteGuys app!

 

[dont24]

Super Soaker water gun and a hot bucket of water is what I use.

 

[dweber]

We got our first measurable snow in Plain City Ohio today. It is a very wet packing snow. Had no signal on all 3 satellites. Had to get out a step ladder and use a broom to clear the snow off the dish. This was hard to do since the dish is mounted on the roof in the opposite direction of my overhang. I got enough snow off to recover my signals. However I could not get all the snow off and my signals are very low (129 = 19-21, 110= 40-50, and 119 = 31-42). But it is supposed to warm up so it will get better once the snow melts. This is the one negative of having a roof mounted dish. But this is the first time I have had problems with snow. The heavy wet packing snow coupled with the strong southwest wind packed the snow into the dish.

 

[bookworm370]

Well, hello neighbor from West Jeff! Same here, the dish was a little covered as well but we put up with it until the weather warmed. I think a large part of it is that I looked at the cloud layers issued by NOAA. Clouds were at 1500' to 7000'. So a very thick cloud wet, dense cloud base. The two combined were enough to knock out service.

But I have been noticing lately that the disruption are closer together. May be a little drift or my dish has strayed a little. If they keep happening I''ll put in a 'peak' service call.

Happy to commiserate that we weren't the only ones!

 

[Jim5506]

Anecdotally, I have heard that putting a black 33 gallon trash bag over the entire dish assembly on the roof will aid in reducing fade due to snow by (1) being slicker than the dish surface itself, snow may slide off it better, (2) any wind blowing may cause the bag to move and dislodge snow and (3) the black color of the bag will capture more energy from the sun in the daytime (not at night) and help melt any snow that may remain.

The plastic material of the bag is virtually invisible to the microwave radiation that carries satellite data (no loss of signal due to the bag's presence.

 

[dweber]

Well it has warmed up to 35F and has stopped snowing. My signals have recovered 119 = 67-78. 110= 68-80 129= 53-56

 

[John2021]

Get a hot shot dish heater.. you'll thank me for it later..

 

[HipKat]

We got our first measurable snow in Plain City Ohio today. It is a very wet packing snow. Had no signal on all 3 satellites. Had to get out a step ladder and use a broom to clear the snow off the dish. This was hard to do since the dish is mounted on the roof in the opposite direction of my overhang. I got enough snow off to recover my signals. However I could not get all the snow off and my signals are very low (129 = 19-21, 110= 40-50, and 119 = 31-42). But it is supposed to warm up so it will get better once the snow melts. This is the one negative of having a roof mounted dish. But this is the first time I have had problems with snow. The heavy wet packing snow coupled with the strong southwest wind packed the snow into the dish.

Just tapping the back of the dish with your broom should work to force the snow to slide off, I'd think

 

[John2021]

Anecdotally, I have heard that putting a black 33 gallon trash bag over the entire dish assembly on the roof will aid in reducing fade due to snow by (1) being slicker than the dish surface itself, snow may slide off it better, (2) any wind blowing may cause the bag to move and dislodge snow and (3) the black color of the bag will capture more energy from the sun in the daytime (not at night) and help melt any snow that may remain.

The plastic material of the bag is virtually invisible to the microwave radiation that carries satellite data (no loss of signal due to the bag's presence.

i heard cooking spray works to the ice and snow slide off the dish...

 

[John2021]

maybe even throwing snow balls at it to clear it off

 

[gittist]

I bet peeing on it would work too! Make sure you post it on You-Tube.

 

[TheKrell]

I bet peeing on it would work too! Make sure you post it on You-Tube.

Eew! Says the guy who had lunch at a Belgian restaurant named Manneken Pis yesterday.

 

[907TECH]

I just give up.

 

[dstone2022]

We just had some wet, sticky snow, and the dish signal went out. So I tilted the dish to a vertical position and waited a few hours.
The dish is on the roof of a two story house and very difficult to get to in the winter, so for the past 25 years, when it snows a lot, we have to tilt the dish for a few hours, it always works.
I did come here to find a better solution. Maybe I'll try that snow & ice repellant next year.

 

[Bobby]

We just had some wet, sticky snow, and the dish signal went out. So I tilted the dish to a vertical position and waited a few hours.
The dish is on the roof of a two story house and very difficult to get to in the winter, so for the past 25 years, when it snows a lot, we have to tilt the dish for a few hours, it always works.
I did come here to find a better solution. Maybe I'll try that snow & ice repellant next year.

It's expensive but perhaps something like this:

Amazon product ASIN B00461I2DGView: https://www.amazon.com/HotShot-satellite-dish-heater-28/dp/B00461I2DG

 

[Josephinelcajon]

Hey guys, I was wondering if any sprays would keep snow and ice off my dish and avoid outages. Or will a spray such as cooking sprays hurt the dish. If this a stupid question sorry, but I'm stupid too, just ask my wife

I have tried so many things! At my location at 4200ft we get freezing rain followed by sleet then finally a pellet snow and very rarely powder. My next problem is storms come directly at the dish and always with wind. My efforts have been silicone spray, Spam, Teflon spray for dishes, trash bags, tarps and finally three reptiles under tank heaters stuck to the back with double sided insulation. And I still loose signal and go out with hot water to remove the snow. I look forward to the suggestions!

 

[Altitudinous]

finally three reptiles under tank heaters stuck to the back with double sided insulation

How do those three reptiles feel about this?

 

[sam_gordon]

It's expensive but perhaps something like this:

Amazon product ASIN B00461I2DGView: https://www.amazon.com/HotShot-satellite-dish-heater-28/dp/B00461I2DG

I wonder if something like this would work (even two or three would be much cheaper than your link)...
Amazon product ASIN B0BBZ663R1View: https://www.amazon.com/Replacement-Magnetic-Silicone-Heating-Protector/dp/B0BBZ663R1/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=block%2Bheater&qid=1668948081&sr=8-5&th=1

 

[NYDutch]

I wonder if something like this would work (even two or three would be much cheaper than your link)...
Amazon product ASIN B0BBZ663R1View: https://www.amazon.com/Replacement-Magnetic-Silicone-Heating-Protector/dp/B0BBZ663R1/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=block%2Bheater&qid=1668948081&sr=8-5&th=1

At 194 deg.F each , I wonder if warping the dish could be an issue.

 

[Jimbo]

We just had some wet, sticky snow, and the dish signal went out. So I tilted the dish to a vertical position and waited a few hours.
The dish is on the roof of a two story house and very difficult to get to in the winter, so for the past 25 years, when it snows a lot, we have to tilt the dish for a few hours, it always works.
I did come here to find a better solution. Maybe I'll try that snow & ice repellant next year.

Put it on the GROUND !