Snow Removal

[js6425]

What's the best way to get snow off the dish? I am afraid that I'm going to misalign it.

 

[garys]

Bush lightly, don't whack at it.

 

[HIFI]

super soaker with hot water

 

[ddgtomahawk]

A bat

 

[ddgtomahawk]

Just kidding get a can of deicer

 

[lumpkin666]

leafblower

 

[Hall]

Where is the dish ?

 

[HIFI]

outside

 

[EricBskiVT]

What's the best way to get snow off the dish? I am afraid that I'm going to misalign it.

Gently, with a broom if you need the reach, with your hands if not.

 

[js6425]

I just went outside and used a broom (gently, of course); everything's fine now!

 

[SpenceJT]

I just went outside and used a broom (gently, of course); everything's fine now!

How many inches do you estimate over there?

Madison area is probably at around 4"

 

[Jim5506]

Brush or broom for snow, hair dryer for ice.

 

[mike2154]

The best way to avoid ice/snow on your dish is to spray it with a silicone based spray or you can use pam spray even to lubricate it so the snow/ice does not stick to it.

 

[kstuart]

The best way to avoid ice/snow on your dish is to spray it with a silicone based spray or you can use pam spray even to lubricate it so the snow/ice does not stick to it.

Do a search for "PAM" - famous myth - the effect is that you have a bug-coated dish.

If you find yourself doing this often, you should get a Dish Heater ( I have them on both of my dishes ).

They pop up on ebay every so often at a discount - I only paid $16 plus shipping for my last one.

The element sticks to the back of the dish, and it attaches with included zip cord to an AC/DC transformer box in your house, with a switch and a power light. It comes on at 35 degrees automatically.

See my avatar for why I know so much about this...

PS The only other good option is the Black Garbage Bag. I see enough of them on dishes in the winter to think that there must be some effect. The LNB should be inside the bag as well - the effect might be to keep snow outside of the cone of focus.

 

[Dirtydan]

I have tried many things, but the best seems to be white kitchen trash bags, even when the snow melts and then freezes on the bags they just need to be whacked lightly with hand or broom. I will never use Pam again, it makes a gooey mess, WD 40 is better, also it's not a good idea.imho, to cover the LNB as this holds condensation in, not good. In the past I used acrylic plastic, like in overhead recessed lights, cut a piece long enough to go half way around dish and about 10" wide, then cut a piece as wide as the LNB and attach to top and have it extend about 3" over the front of the LNB. The plastic does not work very well if you get a lot of wind blown snow

 

[Tahoerob]

Multisatellite Stick On Heater Kit

From a sponsor.

 

[kstuart]

While sponsors are a good thing, I have to say that the price is way above ebay...

 

[Claude Greiner]

Just get a garden hose and spray the Dish with water.

Sure you will get a thin layer of ice, but it beats having a few inches of snow.

Ofcourse a broom stick would be better, but the garden hose is better than climbing the roof if you can't get to the DISH.

As far as the heaters, they work also. One thing that really irritates me is that typically in Detroit we loose signal due to snow on Dishes about 1 time per year for a few hours, if that. There is always that 1 customer who makes a stink over it and insists they order a DISH heater and have us install it for them.

In Detroit they are wasting their money, however the customer thinks they know better than me

 

[Tahoerob]

Just get a garden hose and spray the Dish with water

Does not work if all the outside faucets and/or hoses are also frozen!!!

 

[ERSanders]

I had a dish heater on the 500 but lost it when I got the SuperDish. When they removed the SuperDish and installed a new 500 I went without the heater.

I went to the garden store and bought a 50' coiled garden hose, a garden sprayer and an adaptor for the bathroom sink faucet. So far I have only had to spray the dish with warm water once. From my bathroom window I can hit the back of the dish. After about two minutes all of the ice and snow simple drop off the front of the dish.

Fortunately the prevailing wind comes from the left to the right in the avatar photo and since the dish is on the leeward side of the peak a natural vortex is created that keeps the fluffy snow from sticking to the dish since the velocity is increased by the geometry.