Snow and the 5 lnb dish

[Craig Reilly]

Most of my channels are down again (only saved by the OTA tuner) because snow accumulated on my dish. My roof is steep and covered in ice so I don't expect to have service back until Saturday or Sunday when the weather warms up. This is the second time this month that I have lost service for multiple days. I never had this problem with the smaller 3 lnb dish. The 5 lnb dish that the Directv contractor installed last February is a huge oval shaped monstrosity that is apparently a snow collector. The dish is near the top of a steep roof on a two story house. Even putting a ladder against the ice covered gutters is a dangerous proposition so the hot water in a super soaker approach is not going to fly. I have been with Directv for approaching ten years. The support folks basically told me tonight that they can't help if the roof is covered in snow (DUH!). Having them come out every time it snows is not a long term solution. Any suggestions other than switch to Comcast?

[Mertzen]

I know there are electrical dish heaters. sea other threads for more info.

[Kansas Zephyr]

Garden hose and pressure nozzle...

Can you reach it with that?

Even if it's below freezing, the water will knock the snow off and most will run off before it freezes.

Just remember to drain the hose, or store it above freezing somewhere, after use.

[RobertE]

Line of sight permitting, move it lower.

[mridan]

Craig I recommend the Ice Zapper dish heater ,very easy to install and works great.It's cheaper to purchase it on Ebay then directly from manufacturer.$58.00 ?

[sharksfan]

Craig I recommend the Ice Zapper dish heater ,very easy to install and works great.It's cheaper to purchase it on Ebay then directly from manufacturer.$58.00 ?

Is your dish of the Slimline type? If so, where abouts did you place the heating elements?

[gothamcity]

We got 7 inches of snow in my area and my service never went out for even a second. I have no idea if it piled up on the dish or not.

[bluemoose]

Craig I recommend the Ice Zapper dish heater ,very easy to install and works great.It's cheaper to purchase it on Ebay then directly from manufacturer.$58.00 ?


I've been thinking about getting one of those.... I know it works pretty well for snow on the dish, but what about ice on the dish? last month my area got hit with a big ice storm and there was about 1.5 inch of ice on my dish and LNB. I used a garden hose hooked up to hot water... took a while, but it finally melted all the ice.

maybe a flamethrower is required? :D are there any surplus stores that carry them? :D :D :D :D

[mridan]

I've been thinking about getting one of those.... I know it works pretty well for snow on the dish, but what about ice on the dish? last month my area got hit with a big ice storm and there was about 1.5 inch of ice on my dish and LNB. I used a garden hose hooked up to hot water... took a while, but it finally melted all the ice.

maybe a flamethrower is required? :D are there any surplus stores that carry them? :D :D :D :D

I also had ice/freezing rain early December, it worked great no problems melting ice.

[mridan]

Is your dish of the Slimline type? If so, where abouts did you place the heating elements?

No old sidecar,I mounted heating elements back of dish next to dish mounting bracket.

[dsm]

I haven't tried one of these because my dish is on the ground, but here is another option. Looks like they are sold out of slimline covers right now. Not surprised with all the snow that's been coming down on the Northeast.

steve

http://www.wedgiecovers.com/

[bluemoose]

I haven't tried one of these because my dish is on the ground, but here is another option. Looks like they are sold out of slimline covers right now. Not surprised with all the snow that's been coming down on the Northeast.

steve

http://www.wedgiecovers.com/



I saw this photo on their website.... how is the dish cover supposed
to "Protect your privacy" ????????? :D
http://www.wedgiecovers.com/index.html

[bluemoose]

I also had ice/freezing rain early December, it worked great no problems melting ice.

I'm trying to figure out how to power the heater. My dish is mounted on a pole. It's about 90 feet away from the house, or about 100 feet from the nearest AC outlet...

[Craig Reilly]

A ladder to the second floor roof line was too dangerous (ice on the gutters, those leaf guards are great in the fall and terrible in the winter). Our family room is off the back of the house so I went up on that roof. I could not clear the dish due to the wind which quickly broke up the jet of water. Got some of the snow off but not enough. The problem occurs when the snow slides part of the way down the dish, usually the day after the storm. Will try again tomorrow after work, too dark to do anything else tonight. It may warm up enough tomorrow to finish the job anyways. Maybe in the Spring I will consider installing a heater, especially one of the models that can be driven from a DC power supply over coax.

[mridan]

I'm trying to figure out how to power the heater. My dish is mounted on a pole. It's about 90 feet away from the house, or about 100 feet from the nearest AC outlet...

I have a 50 foot extension cord powering my heater,I don't know what the max length cord you can use.They(Icezapper)have tech support,give them a call.

[glennb]

We got 7 inches of snow in my area and my service never went out for even a second. I have no idea if it piled up on the dish or not.

My service has never gone out when it snows either but I didn't see any point in mentioning it. :)

[premio]

Most of my channels are down again (only saved by the OTA tuner) because snow accumulated on my dish. My roof is steep and covered in ice so I don't expect to have service back until Saturday or Sunday when the weather warms up. This is the second time this month that I have lost service for multiple days. I never had this problem with the smaller 3 lnb dish. The 5 lnb dish that the Directv contractor installed last February is a huge oval shaped monstrosity that is apparently a snow collector. The dish is near the top of a steep roof on a two story house. Even putting a ladder against the ice covered gutters is a dangerous proposition so the hot water in a super soaker approach is not going to fly. I have been with Directv for approaching ten years. The support folks basically told me tonight that they can't help if the roof is covered in snow (DUH!). Having them come out every time it snows is not a long term solution. Any suggestions other than switch to Comcast?


Coat the dish with PAM or some similar non water soluable coating. Possibly fill up a super soaker with some HOT salt water, and you should be good. Both worked well for my mom in Colorado.

-n

[joe diamond]

BLACK PLASTIC TRASH BAG......or....learn to fly and buy a broom.

Joe

[tuff bob]

I got tired of my satellite going out - its the wet slushy snow that takes it out - I ordered the hot shot heating kit for my slimline. I'll let you know how it works out.

[akhicks]

do NOT use PAM it is a petrolium based product and will collect dust and then you will have to clean your dish. use windshield deicer on the disc dont coat the lnb, i realize this may be kinda hard to do with snow on the roof but this works very well i tell all my customers in northern idaho to use this method and have heard nothing but good things from my customers in snowy areas.

[sharksfan]

I got tired of my satellite going out - its the wet slushy snow that takes it out - I ordered the hot shot heating kit for my slimline. I'll let you know how it works out.

I'm interested in knowing how this works! The last 2 snowfalls were of the wet slushy type... lost HD the first time... lost everything the second time.

[tuff bob]

I'm interested in knowing how this works! The last 2 snowfalls were of the wet slushy type... lost HD the first time... lost everything the second time.

ok I just got the hot shot heater kit installed on the dish today. Since the heater blanket went on the back of the dish, I went ahead and rain-x'd the front for ultimate protection (in theory).

The Hot Shot kit is using approx 4 amps at 24VAC, so its putting nearly a 100W of heating on the dish.

looks like next Saturday is my best chance for accumulating snow, as soon as I learn anything I'll post.

In the meantime i could put up my picture - and if Earl says its ok - a scan of the instructions.

[tuff bob]

We had a minor lake effect flurries this morning, enough to cover the car and grassy areas and the dish is clear so far. Early indications look good :hurah:

[venisenvy]

We got a lot almost a foot of snow overnight, and it was the heavy wet snow kind. I lost my HD locals and thats it. I have all my other HD channels even the MPEG2 and 4. And all the SD channels, so I must say I am very happy, usually in weather like this I would loose cable for a few hours but I have only lost 3 HD channels. My only question would be, what are the chances the sun which is coming out would melt enough of the snow off so i can start getting reception of those 3 channels?

[tuff bob]

Interesting, DirecTV says to spray the LNB's with silicone spray here

http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/global/contentPage.jsp?assetId=1300020

[venisenvy]

I guess the sun did the trick, all the channels are now back for me.

[Milominderbinder2]

Craig I recommend the Ice Zapper dish heater ,very easy to install and works great.It's cheaper to purchase it on Ebay then directly from manufacturer.$58.00 ?Here is the link to all that will be available:

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?from=R40&_trksid=m37&satitle=Ice+Zapper&category0=

There is one there right now...

Here are some more on eBay. Some heat the entire dish but cost more:

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?sofocus=bs&sbrftog=1&dfsp=1&catref=C6&from=R10&_trksid=m37&satitle=Satellite+%28Dish+Heater%2C+HOTSHOT%29&sacat=-1%26catref%3DC6&sargn=-1%26saslc%3D2&sadis=200&fpos=60435&sabfmts=1&saobfmts=insif&saprclo=&saprchi=&sass=&fsop=1%26fsoo%3D1

- Craig

[houskamp]

We had a weird light snow last night (suppossed to rain tomorrow) so I had the first snow stuck on my dish.. I was looking for a way to wipe off the dish and happened to see the wifes cobweb brush.. This is an extendable pole with a 12" stiff nylon brush ball on the end.. worked great to clear the snow and didn't even shake the dish.. :)

[akhicks]

now thats thinking outside the box. . . . . . great idea houskamp.

[kitm9891]

Im going to take the chance that Im going to get yelled at for what Im about to say but here it goes. IMO, Directv needs to figure out a way so this doesnt happen and provide it on their own, it should not be the consumers responsibility to buy extra products to get their service to work, it just shouldnt be. I live in Oregon, we have maybe 1 inch of snow and somehow we have lost everything, every single channel except the locals, other then that everything is down. I attempted to reset the STB and all that did was turn off what little I was getting because it wasnt able to acquire anything from the satellite. As much as I hate Comcast, Im beginning to despise Directv even more. I have had 3 incidents in 5 months where I lost service, Ive had the installer damage my house when he installed it, Ive had numerous billing issues and my patience is wearing thin.

I have no problem with those of you that are willing to spend the money to get it up and running but here in Oregon we might get snow 1-2 times a year where I live, its not a good investment to only use 1-2 times a year and end up going years without using it at all. I guess Im just venting, between the rediculous HD-DVR pricing and this, I just dont get how so many people are happy with the service they are getting, Im dumbfounded honestly.

[tuff bob]

I have no problem with those of you that are willing to spend the money to get it up and running but here in Oregon we might get snow 1-2 times a year where I live, its not a good investment to only use 1-2 times a year and end up going years without using it at all. I guess Im just venting, between the rediculous HD-DVR pricing and this, I just dont get how so many people are happy with the service they are getting, Im dumbfounded honestly.

While I agree with you, my rationale is that I'd rather pay some money than be annoyed with my dish not working. I don't know if this makes sense or not

[pratttech]

...we have maybe 1 inch of snow and somehow we have lost everything, every single channel except the locals...

That sucks. :(

I'd call back and have them come back out to check your alignment. Snow can deform the dish shape and change the focal point of the signal so it misses the feedhorn, but how much snow it will take to do this probably depends on how good your alignment is too begin with. I've had a lot more snow than that-- seen very obvious buildup on my dish and lnb arm and (don't hate me) never lost my signal. I'm still waiting for the next ice storm to see how well it handles that.

[carl6]

I live in Seattle, a couple of hundred miles north of the other poster. On the rare occasions that we do get snow (and we've had more than normal this winter), I have found that even small accumulations (an inch of snow on the ground) is more than enough to cause problems if the snow sticks to the lower half of the dish surface. My Slimline is perfectly aligned, and all of my transponder signals are in the high 90's under normal operation. But just a light accumulation of wet snow on the dish will give me a loss of signal.

I've got two Slimlines installed, one that is easy to reach from ground level. When the problem happens, that's the dish I use, and it's easy to brush the snow off.

I don't see how snow could "deform the dish shape" other than by the snow (or ice) itself being the new reflective surface (certainly possible). Certainly the dish itself is not changing shape.

Carl

[rotohead]

I'm near Lake Tahoe on the NV side and a weekly snow storm this winter has made my purchase of a "Hot Shot" dish heater the best money I've spent in a long time. Here is a link.
http://www.montanasatellitesupply.com/index1.html?target=d27.html
Next year will be a draught but the product has already paid for itself IMO.
Chuck

[kitm9891]

I should have added that an additional reason for not wanting to spend the money on a heater or a cover is I get Comcast for free where I live, so I technically have Comcast and Directv on the same TV. So when I lost my signal on Directv last night I was atleast still able to watch Comcast but I dont have HD through them so I cant see anything in HD on Comcast and I dont have all the same channels. It would still be nice if Directv provided something for the consumer to protect against this problem, even if it was nothing more then a cover I would be happier. In terms of the signal strength, I get good reception on every channel once the snow isnt there, for instance this morning everything was up and running like normal.

[rotohead]

I used a 'cover' for three years before I went for the heater. In winter conditions with high snowfall and wetter snow that tends to stick to anything, the cover acts like a 'shelf' to accumulate snow on top. It was ez to brush off snow accumulation on top of the cover with a broom but still took the effort to go outside and do it (that's if it's within reach). If you are in a 'occasional' snow event area, they probably would fit your needs. In any high snowfall area like me (at least 6 ft in the last two months) then a heater is the only answer.
And other's have pu pu-ed the claim of improving 'rain fade' and I don't have any data or experience to verify this claim but if it evaporated standing water from the face of the dish quickly then I could see how that would work. I'm a believer that the "Hot Shot" product works great (along with the arm heating element) and is worth the money in HIGH SNOWFALL areas. If it saves you from the temptation to get on the roof ONE TIME in the winter and save you a trip to the hospital to fix a broken leg then isn't the price a small issue? It is for me.
Chuck

[jaguar325]

I live in MN, it snows a lot but I have only lost signal twice in 13 years. One of those times was this winter after adding a Slimline last fall. I do think it's a little more prone to problems and have been wondering if I ought to add a solar dish heater next summer. My roof is cedar shakes and covered with snow and ice.. needless to say, I am not going up there.

My signal was lost around the holidays.. some freak combination of ice and snow that stuck to the dish. With everybody home, it was killing me to lose 3 of 5 sats. So, I talked my wife into helping me carry the extension ladder around the back where I have a clear line of sight to the dish (about 18ft from the gutter). Unfortunately, this was also the highest point of my house so I was up 2.5 stories and not going to attempt climbing past the gutter. Instead, I used an extension rod with a rubber cap on the end of it (used for screwing light bulbs into recessed lights in a 2-story great room) to clear the snow. I was able to push the rubber part around on the dish surface enough to clear 80% of the snow and ice. Then, just to be sure, banged the front surface just enough to loosen any remaining ice (not enough to throw it out of position). It worked fine after that.

[Talos4]

Here in the frozen tundra we've certainly had our share of snow this year again.

I've lost my signal once this season, that was with a 10" heavy wet snowfall. My snowblower choked on that one so it didn't surprise me that the dish lost a signal.

I use an extension pole with a nylon brush on it to brush the snow off if I have to.

Of course my dish is on the garage only about 15' off the ground so that makes it a little easier to take care of.

I don't get how it's D* responsibility to "fix" the problem.

Using that logic, Ford should figure out a way to prevent my truck from slipping and sliding on the snow and ice. FWD just doesn't cut it

[tuff bob]

We've had a good few inches of snow already in chicago and the dish is totally clear w/ the hotshot heater :) Signals still in the 90s on 103c. I tried to take a picture but all I get is falling snow in the shot :lol:

[ub1934]

We've had a good few inches of snow already in chicago and the dish is totally clear w/ the hotshot heater :) Signals still in the 90s on 103c. I tried to take a picture but all I get is falling snow in the shot :lol:

DirecTv should make all their Slimline's with a "NonStick coating" ;)

[vanbojp]

Silly question, but how do I identify which dish I have? I live in SE Wisconsin, and just had HD service installed (HR21-200)... it's a big oval dish, but don't know if it's a 'slimline' or if its even metal. It's currently not getting 103B reliably (signal strength in the 40's), so most HD is out for the past few days, from the last snowstorm we got (13.5" snow). It appears to have a little bit of ice built up near the bottom of the dish, which I can't sweep off with a broom...

[harsh]

Most dishes installed in the last 6-8 months have been Slimlines. The difference between the behemoth dishes is most easily defined by the physical layout of the LNB assembly. The AT-9 (generation one) has a large LNB with a smaller one scabbed onto the side. The AU-9 (Slimline) has a long, bar-shaped LNB assembly with all of the feed horns concentrated on the east side.

From the back, the AT-9 looks a little more rectangular than the AU-9, but you'd probably have to see both of them to know what I'm talking about.

If your 103W signal strengths have never been much above 30, you need to get the dish "peaked". I would consider any installation that didn't result in CONUS signals across the board above 80 on a clear day to be a failure.

[vanbojp]

Most dishes installed in the last 6-8 months have been Slimlines. The difference between the behemoth dishes is most easily defined by the physical layout of the LNB assembly. The AT-9 (generation one) has a large LNB with a smaller one scabbed onto the side. The AU-9 (Slimline) has a long, bar-shaped LNB assembly with all of the feed horns concentrated on the east side.

From the back, the AT-9 looks a little more rectangular than the AU-9, but you'd probably have to see both of them to know what I'm talking about.

Thanks, sounds like I have the slimline then. It has 3 LNBs, but looks like there is room for 2 more on the west side.
Given the weather/amount of snow, I just haven't taken the time to climb up there and get a good look at it. It's about 16-18' off the ground (porch roof). So, it sounds like the Hot Shot heater is the best bet...

[wmj5]

I live in upstate south carolina and we get iced over some time, when I first got my dish, which was one lnb I would play with it, you can put a heavy dutie piece of cardboard between the lnb and dish and still get a picture, you can put your hand over the lnb and get a picture, but you let a thin sheet of clear ice get on the lnb and no picture, so now when we have ice and I have no picture I just go to my dish which is about 5 ft. and take the handle of a screwdriver and tap the ice off the lnb and everthing is ok, the same thing has happoned to my slimline and it works.

[Talos4]

Well, nearly 20" of snow in the Milw. area on Wednesday and never once lost any signal.

I refused to go to work and had plenty of time to check out the the signal stengths and channels.

[ray e]

wet snow stops signal dry doesn't seem to
have a wedgie cover with less than an inch of wet snow on top
major loss of signal.
the slimline here in ct. has a low lnb angle and the snow builds up
on the cover, brushed it off signal back.
cover worked on the first generation dishes
as there was no flat top to hold snow.