satellite dish de-icer?
Karl
dish de-icer?
I've been "googling" for different solutions, such as heat tape,
covers, silicone spray, "PAM" spray, car wax, cooking oil, or more
expensive products like "wx2100," etc.
I've found some homemade recipes, such as mixing common rubbing
alcohol with a small amount of dish soap, then rubbing it on the
dish every now and then between snow storms. Other recipes
include antifreeze, but that can be pretty toxic to animals, and
we live in a remote area where there is abundant wildlife. But I
suppose a thin layer of antifreeze, somehow "hardened" onto the
dish, wouldn't do much harm.
I've tried the "car wax" treatment to no avail. My Dish network
500 dish is located about 100' up the hill from our house, and the
snowy winters make access difficult, especially at night.
Opinions welcome. Cheap products or homemade recipes preferred.
--
Karl
clouddreamer
I've seen satellite dishes with a cover. Check with your local dealer.
..
--
We must change the way we live
Or the climate will do it for us.
Nancy2
DirecTV has changed from two dishes (one local/one other) to one all-
encompassing dish, and there hasn't been any rain fade at all since
they changed mine - before there were reception problems if the
weather even thought about rain.
I'm expecting the same this winter - maybe it's time for you to
change.
N.
Karl
"Seth" <seth_ler...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>"Dr. Personality" <aff...@no.com.invalid> wrote in message
>news:081020091647480908%aff...@no.com.invalid...
>> In article <Xns9C9E7E...@66.246.138.5>, Eric
>> <eric...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I don't think it's the ice so much as the snow. When we get a heavy, wet
>>> snow, it sticks to the dish and we lose reception. I can tap the dish
>>> with a stick out the window and the snow falls off, but I wouldn't mind
>>> a permanent solution.
>>
>>
>> I have had snow buildup on the dish, which is on the roof of my
>> two-story house. This happens during storms. I've had to construct a
>> 25-foot-long pole with a whiskbroom duct-taped to the end at a
>> 90-degree angle to clear the dish. I won't climb up there in bad
>> weather.
>>
>> A heater may suit you. I found this:
>>
>> http://icezapper.com/
>>
>> It seems to be simple enough to install and maintain, but I have no
>> experience with this product. They also sell dish covers, which they
>> say "reduce" the problem. You can poke around their site if you like.
>> Good luck.
>
>
>My previous house I had to put a dish heater in. Dish was too high up to be
>climbing in winter and we did have snow accumulation problems.
>
>Was pretty simple to install. Was basically a big sticker that covered the
>face of the dish (and was of the same reflective quality that it didn't
>change my signal levels) and low voltage wiring that went to a control box.
>The control box was mounted outside and plugged into a regular power outlet.
>Had a thermostat built in and only powered the heating elements when the
>temp was below 35.
That sounds like the ideal solution. But it also sounds
like it could be a bit expensive for my budget, and could
also be more labor intensive than what I am willing or able
to do.
I mounted our dish securely on the advise of the Dish
network installer who determined where the optimum direct
south exposure was for our dish, when we signed up for
their satellite tv service six years ago. Over a hundred
feet from the house, and it is very rocky terrain. It took
me a month of picking and digging to bury the cables, and I
darned sure don't want to dig them up just to bury a small
electrical power cable.
Someone mentioned the slushy conditions when temperatures
are just above freezing, where the snow really wants to
cling to the dish. That describes about half of the snows
we get where I live, late fall and early spring especially
when it is frequently sunny in the morning and showery to
snowy in the evening. And it's a real pain in the ass to
have to hike up the steep and snowy hill to scrape off the
dish every hour in the middle of your favorite prime time
programs durning snow storms. That's what I am trying to
avoid, or at least curtail.
Even when it's well below freezing in the dead of winter,
the snow accumulation on the dish quickly reduces our
otherwise strong signal (on 110 and 119) to the point where
I have to get up there scrape the snow off every time after
it builds up. Helps keep me in shape, I suppose.
I've read too many negative reviews of the various dish
"covers" to pursue that avenue any further. So that
eliminates running power to the dish or using "covers."
I think at this point I will just experiment with several
of the popular "quick and dirty" solutions. The car wax
didn't work for me, so today I applied some cooking oil to
the dish, because our local weather forecast is for snow
this weekend. If that doesn't work, I'll try something
else. I've even considered rubbing a very thin layer of
liquid clear silicone caulk onto the face of the dish,
because I know that water totally beads up and is repelled
by the silicone calk where I've used it to prevent ice-
daming that leaches under the asphalt shingles on the parts
of our roof where there is no (unheated) attic space.
I will keep an eye on this thread, just in case anyone
else has some beneficial advice such as you've given, but
such as might better suit my particular situation.
--
Karl
Tony Calguire
>
> I will keep an eye on this thread, just in case anyone
> else has some beneficial advice such as you've given, but
> such as might better suit my particular situation.
>
I don't have a dish, but I'm just throwing around ideas in my head...
How about painting it black? I'm not sure if that would cause a problem
with the dish's signal reflectivity, but a black object facing south will
get warmer than a light gray object.
Other than that, I would think a bigger dish would help considerably to
mitigate, if not eliminate the problem.
Bob(but not THAT Bob)
That cooking oil is just gonna become a sticky - take it off with
solvent and spray it with KEL 110 pure silicone:
http://automotive.hardwarestore.com/90-547-specialty-lubricants-/pure-silicone-lubricant-641539.aspx
Very slippery stuff - I've used it on snow shovels - it's the only PURE
silicone spray I've ever seen.
I've never used this one, but I bet it would work:
joeturn
about 30 minutes should do the trick!
John McWilliams
> The heater was a good idea but a floodlite at close proxemity for
> about 30 minutes should do the trick!
Karl said he didn't want to run electric service up the hill.
Since the cover mfg's say a cover won't disrupt reception, why not use
your own to see if it works keeping the snow/ice out?
Or building a roof over the top and sides of the dish?
--
john mcwilliams
Karl
Dirtydan <Dirtyda...@satelliteguys.us> wrote:
>Here is my solution, cover dish with small trash bag, spray bag with RZ
>50, which has no oil or silicone, therefore no build up of gooey stuff.
>Only on rare occasions do I have to brush snow off my dish, and with the
>bag in place all I do is grab the bag an shake it a bit and all snow
>falls off
Color me astonished! It works perfectly, the bag I mean.
This morning, before putting a medium sized white trash bag
over the dish, I checked the Dish network signal strength on
echostar #119 and got 66 on my DVR 510, which is fairly normal
from past experience. Echostar #110 was better at 75.
Next, I headed up the hill and placed the trash bag over the
dish. Headed back down the hill and checked signal strength
again. It matched! I channel flipped pretty much all over the
dial, to make absolutely sure it worked. And it does. The
only thing I noticed is that it seemed like it took about half
a second longer than before to lock in any of the channels that
I tried. Don't know why that is, and I am completely baffled
as to how the dish signal is not being interrupted by the loose
trash bag. But waiting a half second longer to lock in a
channel will be a small price to pay, next time a snow storm
or freezing rain comes along.
Next time I'm at our local Home Depot, I'll be sure to grab
a can of the RZ-50, which the "rz-50.com" website says should
be available in the "Window & door replacement hardware
section" of, quote, "most all" Home Depot stores. Thanks to
"paultry" for providing that link.
But just the bag alone might be enough to keep the snow from
building up? I'll have to wait for the next snow to find out,
which by the looks of things could still be weeks away.
I'll post the results of a bag sprayed with RZ-50, compared
to a bag without the RZ-50, as time and local snowfall permits.
But I want to say thanks to you, Dan, for providing what
promises to be the perfect, cheap, "quick and dirty" solution
to the problem. Even though it's actually a chemically very
clean solution, speaking of the new unused trash bag and the
RZ-50 "PTFE Polymer developed for NASA by DUPONT."
Also, I can testify that rubbing or spraying "PAM" or other
cooking oil on the dish is definitely NOT recommended. I had
to wash the dish with hot soapy water (then rinse off with
clean hot water) because the oil had dried up into a sticky
ducttape-like glue, and lots of little dead insects were stuck
to it. Live and learn.
--
Karl
Frank Frank
> In <news:Dirtyda...@satelliteguys.us> . . .
> Dirtydan <Dirtyda...@satelliteguys.us> wrote:
>> Here is my solution, cover dish with small trash bag, spray bag with RZ
>> 50, which has no oil or silicone, therefore no build up of gooey stuff.
>> Only on rare occasions do I have to brush snow off my dish, and with the
>> bag in place all I do is grab the bag an shake it a bit and all snow
>> falls off
>
> Color me astonished! It works perfectly, the bag I mean.
>
> This morning, before putting a medium sized white trash bag
> over the dish, I checked the Dish network signal strength on
> echostar #119 and got 66 on my DVR 510, which is fairly normal
> from past experience. Echostar #110 was better at 75.
>
> Next, I headed up the hill and placed the trash bag over the
> dish. Headed back down the hill and checked signal strength
> again. It matched! I channel flipped pretty much all over the
> dial, to make absolutely sure it worked. And it does. The
> only thing I noticed is that it seemed like it took about half
> a second longer than before to lock in any of the channels that
> I tried. Don't know why that is, and I am completely baffled
> as to how the dish signal is not being interrupted by the loose
> trash bag.
The bag is much thinner than the wavelength of the signal, and
nonmetallic, so it is pretty much perfectly transparent to it.
joeturn
a
flood light/heater with the coax he has burried!
Is it not possible to use
the motor voltage off his lnb?
I think an lnb port2 can be rigged to supply the needed voltage to the
heater that sticks to the inside of the dish and is thermostat
controlled is the best alternative,even over the trash baggy!
Buddenbrooks
"Karl" <_@_> wrote in message news:RU4CKUJI4010...@reece.net.au...
>
> Next time I'm at our local Home Depot, I'll be sure to grab
> a can of the RZ-50, which the "rz-50.com" website says should
> be available in the "Window & door replacement hardware
> section" of, quote, "most all" Home Depot stores. Thanks to
> "paultry" for providing that link.
>
Probably a wasted advert here, Home Depot do not have a branch in Europe