When you have snow that falls and sits on the satellite dish, this naturally hinders the signal. As a result, you end up with a terrible image on your TV screen and even worse sound quality. This is why homeowners often want to know the answer to only one question in winter: how to keep snow from sticking to my satellite dish?
In this article, you will get the answer! We will explain how you can keep your satellite dish clear of snow. We will provide you with a list of easy homemade fixes you can use for this purpose so that you have different options to choose from and try.
Also, we will tell you how to remove excess snow from the surface of the satellite dish and what can happen if you leave snow unattended. With all these tips and recommendations in mind, you will be able to enjoy your favorite movies and TV shows anytime during the winter, even in the heaviest snowfall! And besides, it will ensure that the TV image and sound will be at their best.
Best Way to Keep Snow Off Your Satellite Dish
So, unless you live in Hawaii, you will most likely have snow accumulated on your satellite dish during the winter, especially if your area is predisposed to heavy snowfalls or snowstorms. And since even the slightest layer of snow often makes the image on the TV screen get worse, as well as the sound, you should know how you can fix that.
Below, we have prepared a few useful tips and satellite dish snow protection measures that will help you prevent snow from sticking to your satellite dish. All of them are quite simple but anyway, they will make you get out from under your warm blanket.
Opt For Vegetable Oil
Vegetable oil can be helpful not only for cooking. It prevents snow on satellite dishes quite well! Don’t worry, you won’t have to climb up to your roof to wipe the entire dish with a cloth soaked in vegetable oil!
All you need to do is to get a can of cooking spray and simply pulverize it all over the satellite dish surface generously. And yes, it is recommended that you spray one whole can of vegetable oil! But don’t worry, the oil will not cause any damage to the equipment.
The good thing about this method is that cooking spray is a common product in every home’s kitchen, which makes this way of snow fix very accessible and cheap. See, the properties of the vegetable oil will create a thick protective coat on the surface of the satellite dish. This will make it more difficult for the snow to stick to the dish, making it slide to the ground.
However, you should bear in mind that this method can’t be used as a permanent fix. Therefore, should you keep experiencing bad signals, just grab another can of cooking oil and spray the whole thing once again on the dish.
Use Bag Filled With Bags
We bet everyone has it: a bag that is filled with other plastic bags. We often bring them home from stores and supermarkets, and they just stay in our kitchen drawers unused. Nevertheless, if you thought this big bag filled with bags would have no use, you were wrong! These bags can be used as an easy fix to prevent the snow from accumulating on your satellite dish.
You just need to take the bigger bag – the one that is big enough to cover the whole satellite dish and pull it on top of the device. The plastic the bag is made of is slippery, which means it will help the snow slip off the dish. In addition, since plastic is not a thick material, it will not prevent the signal from reaching your satellite dish and therefore, your TV set.
For sure, it is not the most aesthetically pleasing method, but this is probably the only drawback of it. Anyway, it still does the job! The only thing you should pay attention to is how properly the bag is attached. Make sure to tie the bag properly after covering the satellite dish.
If you don’t do it right, there is always the risk that the snow will keep accumulating! Besides, with a properly tied bag, you will ensure it will survive harsher winds that could otherwise just take the plastic bag off.
Use Sattelite Dish Heaters
If you don’t have any spare plastic bags at home and you don’t feel like wasting cooking oil on moisturizing your satellite dish, satellite dish heat tape is your option.
This easy method involves some heat tape, but luckily, you can get it either from your neighbor or by purchasing it in almost any hardware store. Then you need to install it on your satellite dish.
Since heat tape for the satellite dish is connected to a small voltage battery, it will keep your appliance warm enough to melt the snow once it tries to settle there. Of course, this is not the cheapest option, and you will have to pay something around one hundred dollars for the tape and the battery, but it will definitely help you free your dish from the snow!
Why Not Use Squirt Water Guns?!
Playing with water guns is not the best idea when it’s freezing cold outside, but you will be surprised to learn that this toy can be quite helpful when removing the snow accumulated on a satellite dish!
This is what you need to do:
- fill the water guns with hot water
- “fire” at the snow accumulated on top of your satellite dish
Done! By the way, this method is good because you can get your family members and especially kids to help you to shoot the snow, turning a boring cleaning process into a fun game! Just make sure you get the water guns that are big enough, like that, the stream of water will be stronger, being able to reach the dish.
Using a Soft Brush May Help
If you missed the right moment and didn’t protect your dish from snow, you will have to remove snow from it by hand. Just grab a ladder, a soft brush, and get up to the roof for a cleaning session. Don’t worry, by using a soft brush, you don’t cause any damage to the smooth surface of the dish and diminish the quality of your signal!
And here is a tip for you: in order to keep your dish snow-free longer, we suggest you also remove the snow around the satellite dish. And by the way, once you are already there, why not cover it with some cooking oil or a plastic bag? This will save you some more time in the future.
Cover Your Satellite Dish
We know we already told you the dish can be covered with plastic bags that are not in use. But this is another method. See, you can also protect your satellite dish from snow by using a special dish cover.
There is no need to worry about the size of the cover since any of them will anyway fit your satellite dish perfectly, being specially designed for this purpose. Moreover, since these covers have a nylon composition, they will just make the snow slide off the dish rather than accumulate on top of it. And a cherry on top, such a cover will not hinder the quality of the signal!
Now you know what methods can be used to protect your satellite dish from snow in winter. With all the variety of options available, you can choose the one that will suit you better. But if you have missed the right moment and snow has already got stuck to the surface of your dish, you might want to know how to get rid of it without damaging the surface of the appliance.
How to Remove Snow From Satellite Dish Without Damaging It?
Ok, now you know a few handy tricks that will allow you to keep your satellite dish show-resistant. But what if snow has already accumulated on its surface before you learned these useful tips? In this case, you need to know how to get the snow off your satellite dish.
The trick is that it should be done very carefully to keep the surface of the dish safe and sound. Any scratches or major damage may lead to a worsening of the signal!
This is why you should not use anything like an ice scraper or a shovel to remove stuck-on snow! Any of these tools may scrape your satellite dish and move it out of position, making your TV signal worse. What shall you do then?
- First, make sure there is no ice on the ground below
- Place some grit on the ground before you place the ladder down. It will give you extra traction
- Get the ladder and place it firmly. Make sure it is stable and won’t slide
- Get a friend or family member to hold the ladder, so it does not fall over
- Using a long-handle broom with soft plastic bristles or a snow rake with a long handle, remove snow and ice from your satellite dish
- That’s it. Very simple and won’t take you much time.
So, now you know what to do in order to keep snow away from your satellite dish and enjoy your favorite movies and TV shows during the cold winter evenings.
With all the tips we shared, you will easily pick the right one that suits your needs better than others. But since all the methods you are now aware of are easy to use and affordable, you will easily keep your dish snow-free.
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