Snow & Ice on the dish!

[Blindowl1234]

Ok I thought I share my experience the last few days and I'm sure others will have a few stories too. I know from the 18" days what rain and snow does to reception. Fast forward a few years to this week. I got my new Fortec Dynamic receiver last night so I was anxious to program it right....well Tues and Wed, we have had 1/2 to 3/4" of ice with about 8-10 of snow. I was fine going out and cleaning the snow every so often off the three dishes. The ice was a pain this morning. I thought ok how do we melt that much ice off of 3 dishes? What would Iceberg do out where he lives? How bout the rest of the guys in the cold climates? They must have a secret! Well first I tried the propane torch...yeah right I'd be all day! So a light went on in my head and I got a 2 gallon bucket of water and drowned each dish in hot water haha. It took a couple of times on each dish but it worked. If the garden hose was thawed out I would of run it into the laundry room and hooked it to the stationary tub. What we FTA'ers won't do for free tv! Aaaah Tv tonight for sure

 

[walrus1957]

I often wondered about dish heaters but they are expensive, there are several out on the market. This is just one of them:

This low voltage antenna heater 38" or larger systems Hot Shot Dish Heater Kit will keep your Satellite Dish antenna Clear of Ice and Snow from collecting on your satellite dish. It has a Built-in Sensor that turns on Heater in freezing conditions by a self adesive Heating Element and will help prevent service outages due to signal loss caused by the buildup of snow or ice on the dish.
It can also reduce rain fade by up to 75%. By simply attaching the self-adhesive vinyl pad to the satellite antenna.

 

[Lak7]

I put a large Black plastic bag over the Dish before Winter starts, works great.

 

[walrus1957]

I put a large Black plastic bag over the Dish before Winter starts, works great.

Hell I've been using the cover for my grill! You mean to tell me a black bag works just as good. LOL

 

[Lak7]

Yep, I leave it on all winter. If snow / ice does stick, a quick shake / tap takes care of it.

 

[gabshere]

also Lowes or i'm sure most larger hardware stores sell a element kit for wrapping pipes to keep them warm they usually include a sticky tape and the price range is $10-$12 ( but you would have to run power to it.

 

[Mr Tony]

I dont remember the last time we had that much ice. We've had coatings which usually melted in the next day or so. I make sure the dish is aimed at true south

snow is easy. 3 dishes are on the deck so a small broom. The motorized dish I have had to go up and get the snow around the dish (due to my low elevation of the dish). Usually after it snows I get on the ladder and sweep around the motorized (its only up about 10 feet)

but a couple years ago we had a blizzard...that sucked trying to get the snow out from it

but from the ice standpoint, a super soaker with hot water or as you did the bucket theory.

My 6 foot dish the bottom half has a glaze of ice from a while back. You can see where the sun hits it because right below the sun line is ice

 

[B.J.]

Last year we had so much snow that I had to take a snow shovel to my 3' dish, and dig DOWN to get to the dish. {actually the top 10" or so was sticking out of the snow}
I disconnected it from my receiver so that it wouldn't try to move while under the snow.
We occasionally get nasty ice storms, however usually when there's an ice storm we lose power for several days, so there isn't any sat TV anyway. The little offset dishes don't usually catch much if any snow/ice, but the BUD does. Have to sweep it off. We just got about a foot of snow yesterday and overnight, and the DTV and Fortec and Primestar dishes are still working, but the Bud is filled with snow, and the weight pulls it off aim.