When it snows, you loose signal!

[Tampa8]

Title not exactly correct..... when it snows I do not normally lose satellite. I will say my EA dish certainly will gather snow at times, where as my WA dish virtually never does. But it really does take a wet heavy snow on the dish to lose a signal.

And the poster who said not to use Pam is correct in my opinion. It does not stay slippery and will attract dirt etc....

 

[Teehar]

Personally I think Dish should add Logo'd high powered squirt guns and brooms to every new install.

 

[wolfjc]

I am in Cincinnati andf last year I had a lot of snow on my dish and lost signal.
My disk is on the roof and it points away so I see only the back of the dish.
To clear the snow I used a hose and HOT water aimed at the rear of the dish this fixed it very well.

 

[supermod38]

chart says 37 min 40 avg.

guess i will call dish

 

[brad1138]

I can't believe no one jumped on the OP for saying loose instead of lose. Usually somebody is all over a poster for that.

That's what I get for posting when I first wake up I wish I could edit the title...

Wet snow is what kills signal, usually only need 1/4-1/2 inch or so. Around my neck of the woods, we usually get wet snow, at least at first.

One interesting thing, I watched the signal drop as I lost channels. Last thing I could get was the locals and they dropped out at about "8" signal.

 

[Hall]

I can't believe no one jumped on the OP for saying loose instead of lose. Usually somebody is all over a poster for that.

I was going to post something like "if the dish is loose, just tighten it"

 

[RT-Cat]

The DVR should send a power surge back through the line when it looses signal to heat the dish. lol , just joking.

Well, not a bad idea, really. Maybe wrap heat tapes on the back side and turn them on when snow builds up. I just had a 2 hour blizzard here and dish is covered top to bottom and there is still signal. I agree with the poster that stated % of water in the snow makes a big difference.

 

[hudgreen]

The further north you go the lower the angle of the dish (allowing more snow to slide off)
You could also assume the temperature is colder further north and the snow would be dryer (less sticky)
The OP didn't say where he was located but given my assumptions here you would be more likely to have snow accumulate on the dish the further south you are (per snowfall,because obliviously they get more snow further north)


Would you have to drill holes in a dish (to drain rain water) installed at the equator?

 

[bentjm]

I have only lost signal due to very wet snow accumulation on my converted superdish. My 129 wing dish is almost parallel with the ground, so snow will not stick to it.

 

[samedaysatellite]

My 129 wing dish is almost parallel with the ground, so snow will not stick to it.

You do mean perpendicular, ..... don't ya?

 

[Lord_Vader]

Someone should submit the question to Mythbusters and see what they come up with.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

Someone should submit the question to Mythbusters and see what they come up with.

Nah, they'll just want to blow it up!!

 

[Jim5506]

LARGE BLACK PLASTIC TRASH BAG!!

 

[dan188]

Is it true that the dish has a tflon nostick coting on them ??

 

[samedaysatellite]

Is it true that the dish has a tflon nostick coting on them ??

dunno never tried cooking on em...lol just joking. But I honestly don't know.

 

[butters]

I've had Dish for 7 years and had Direct for several years before that and cable intermixed in there for many years too. I can count on one hand the times snow has caused a satellite outage and I live in an area that gets 120" - 150" of snow each year. I do get rain fade far more often and recall that although my cable went out infrequently, it would be out for a much longer time than with satellite. Maybe hudgreen (post #28) has a point with the dish angles??? Thanksfully my dish is on a pole and it is easily accessible if I do need to get at it.

 

[samedaysatellite]

The first 1000.2 dish customer I have installed is a family member. Their actual reflector plate was so drifted up on a pole it had about 2 inches of snow on it. It still worked. Crazy, I know. Must of drifted just right to the curve on the plate. However the LNB was never covered what so ever. So maybe that is the issue. It did go out during the snow storm but not after even with all the snow on it.

 

[hudgreen]

These photos are from a '09 trouble call at a large shopping mall
I think it was only a 6 or 8 inch snowfall but this portion of the roof which was lower (and down wind) collected about 2 to 3 feet of snow
It sucked as I wasn't prepared or dressed for deep snow
I didn't even have a good shovel
When I do installs I will take into account the chance of drifting snow's impact on the dish
BTW This was not one that I put in it and was a direct pay job

 

[old corps]

LARGE BLACK PLASTIC TRASH BAG!!

Did NOT work for me--actually CAUSED complete signal loss with 1st light wet snow a couple of winters ago. The snow/ice froze to the bag. I was lucky I didn't break my neck getting on the super slick roof to rip the damned bag off. I have an EA dish and it had to be roof-mounted for LOS. My solution was to use three 50w Katz heaters from Amazon (used for engine blocks, etc.). 1 in the center, the other 2 along the bottom lip of the dish. Works GREAT! I have easy access to the extension cord in my attached garage and any snow is GONE within a half-hour. JMHO

Ed

In fairness, the black plastic bag thing probably does work with "dry" snow........

 

[old corps]

View attachment 73349View attachment 73350

These photos are from a '09 trouble call at a large shopping mall
I think it was only a 6 or 8 inch snowfall but this portion of the roof which was lower (and down wind) collected about 2 to 3 feet of snow
It sucked as I wasn't prepared or dressed for deep snow
I didn't even have a good shovel
When I do installs I will take into account the chance of drifting snow's impact on the dish
BTW This was not one that I put in it and was a direct pay job

Wow, that must've been a fun time!

Ed