Anyone De-icing their dish?

Discussion of large prime focus satellite dishes used for C-Band signal reception.
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eldorado
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Anyone De-icing their dish?

Post by eldorado » Thu Jan 08, 2015 12:25 am

Now that winter is here :o , I got a couple of questions for the experts.

1. Do you guys use heaters to de-ice your dishes?

2. Does anybody heat their actuators?

Is ice/snow buildup a big problem for TVRO dishes?

I've never had a bud before and this is the first time I am using it during winter. So far no problems (no major ice storms or severe cold yet), but I just wanted to hear from the experts/veterans about how they handle winter conditions, if at all...

By the way, I came across this site about de-icing, but I think their products are for commercial headends:

http://www.de-ice.com/

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Re: Anyone De-icing their dish?

Post by skink » Thu Jan 08, 2015 8:25 am

I just brush-off the snow from my solid 2.4m dish.I have this year changed to a Venture actuator and sofar it has being excellent .It comes with an accordian bellow cover.I had those lower cost arms(SJ)and i coated the moving tube with white lithium grease.I would be using it still,if i didn't overextended it,slipping it out of the tube.Never frozed up on me either.The white lithium grease is waterproof and sticks pretty good.Didn't have bellows on the (SJ) and was good for years.

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Re: Anyone De-icing their dish?

Post by fatso » Thu Jan 08, 2015 11:09 pm

There are professional de-icing kits available, essentially an insulated conductor about 50ft in length. You simply snake it on the back of the dish and connect to a 120V AC power supply that will heat the dish when the temperature drops below freezing. You can also snake it around the actuator to keep that from freezing up too.

Only needed if you are in a really, really cold place though...like northern Alberta, Alaska, etc. Still useful in other places if you hate removing snow accumulatation off your dish and want to spend the money on a de-ice kit.
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Re: Anyone De-icing their dish?

Post by skink » Tue Jan 13, 2015 8:55 am

Ha Ha ! You jinxed me.The arm frozed overnight.It was -24C with a -33C windchill.I guess i should have greased the new arm instead of taking a chance on the bellows.

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Re: Anyone De-icing their dish?

Post by rusty » Tue Jan 13, 2015 9:50 pm

skink wrote:Ha Ha ! You jinxed me.The arm frozed overnight.It was -24C with a -33C windchill.I guess i should have greased the new arm instead of taking a chance on the bellows.
A lot of actuators just won't move when the temperature drops below -30C.

The best thing to do is get a 10ft long de-icing kit (used for warming water pipes - check your hardware store) and wrap it around your actuator (including the motor). When you are not using your dish, keep the stroke arm inside the actuator housing to keep it warm. It will keep your actuator warm and running smooth all winter!

I've been doing this for 10 years without a single problem!
12' Cosmos Primestar (refurbished)36" SuperJack Actuator
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Re: Anyone De-icing their dish?

Post by tvroadmin » Wed Jan 14, 2015 7:41 pm

Perhaps our sponsors can look into selling de-icing equipment for TVROs.

Although I haven't experienced any freezing problems with my dish yet, I really like the idea of not having to go outside and brush off the snow after every winter storm.
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Re: Anyone De-icing their dish?

Post by eldorado » Sat Jan 17, 2015 10:04 pm

tvroadmin wrote:Perhaps our sponsors can look into selling de-icing equipment for TVROs.
I emailed tek2000 about it, but they don't sell de-icing kits. They said they would look into it...

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