The Starks of Winterfell, one of the main families from the worldwide famous HBO series Game of Thrones, were dead right from the beginning: Winter is Coming! Of course, most of us do not live under such harsh conditions and the snow season is a time of the year when hot chocolates and blankets become routine.
The cosy stay-in weekends turn into the best option to those who prefer not to face the cold – and that plan usually comes with quite of a binging TV series and films.
The problem comes when you get everything ready for an intense session of watching series episodes one after the other and, when you turn on the TV, the image is all fuzzy. Sometimes, you cannot make out what’s going on because of the greyish static-noise screen that comes up exactly when all you wanted to do was to just watch something.
One of the most common causes for that bad image and sound performance on the TV is simply due to the snow that falls and sits on the satellite dish. This, naturally, hinders the signal and, as a result, displays terrible image and sound quality to your TV set.
One thing is for certain – for most of the fixes we have in this list, you will have to get out from under the blankets and leave your hot chocolate for later. But it’s pretty likely that one of the fixes herein will solve your problem and allow you to enjoy your binging sessions in the utmost comfort.
So, without further ado, here is a list of easy homemade fixes you can attempt to keep the satellite dish clear of snow, helping your TV image and sound to be at their best.
How To Keep Snow Off Your Satellite Dish?
- Try Vegetable Oil
We admit it, this option makes us seem like we’re a bunch of crazy people giving out bad suggestions that will most likely ruin your dish instead of keeping the snow from gathering on top of it. I assure you that is not our intention, as this is the main recommendation of the majority of professional dish installers. Spray it until there’s nothing more to spray!
The good news is that cooking spray is a common product on the shelves and cabinets in every home, which makes this fix very accessible and practical. So, just grab your oil can and spray the whole thing (yes, it is recommended that you spray one whole can of vegetable oil) on the satellite dish.
According to specialists, the properties of the vegetable oil help creating a coat on the surface of the satellite dish, and a very slick one. This will make it more difficult for the snow to stick to the dish and, consequently, it will just slide to the ground.
Bear in mind that this is not likely to be a permanent fix, but for its practicality and affordability, it has to be the top easy fix on our list. Therefore, should you keep experiencing bad signals, just grab another can of cooking oil and spray the whole thing once again on the dish. And, just in case you were wondering, there are no reports of the oil causing any sort of damage to the equipment.
- The Bag Full Of Bags Trick
In pretty much every home, people will have a bag that is filled with other plastic bags, either because markets provide us with so many plastic bags, we just cannot find a use for all of them, or else because some people just have a tendency to accumulate stuff.
Nevertheless, even if you thought this big bag of bags would have no use, fear not. They can also be an easy fix to prevent the snow from accumulating on top of your satellite dish and hindering the signal.
Yes, just take the bigger bag – one that is big enough to cover the whole satellite dish and put it on top of the device. The plastic on the bag will help the snow slip off the dish and, since it is not a thick metallic material, the plastic will not prevent the signal from reaching your satellite dish and therefore, your TV set.
Yes, it not the most aesthetically pleasing choice, because your dish will look like it is wrapped up to be thrown in the garbage, but it still does the job. Now your days of getting out from under the blankets to clean the satellite dish will be over.
On a final note, make sure to properly tie the bag after covering the satellite dish or else there is always the risk that the snow will keep accumulating and then end up removing the plastic bag. Doing this will also protect it from harsher winds that could just take the plastic bag for a spin around the neighbourhood.
- Keep It Heated Up With a Tape
Since so many people – especially dads with time to spare – have started posting videos all over the internet teaching less experienced homeowners how to repair all kinds of things in their houses, the internet has been flooded with do-it-yourself walkthroughs. Well, there is also a DIY trick for the snow accumulating on the surface of your satellite dish issue, and it’s pretty practical – exactly as it should be.
This easy fix involves acquiring some heat tape, either from your neighbour or by purchasing it in almost any hardware store. Then you install it on your satellite dish.
Since the tape is connected to a small voltage battery, it will keep your satellite dish warm enough to melt the snow, instead of having it just accumulating on top of the dish.
Although this is not the cheapest option, since the tape and the battery should cost something around one hundred dollars, it will definitely solve the issue and keep your binging sessions uninterrupted.
- Squirt Guns!
Thankfully, wintertime does not go well with playing with squirt guns. We can imagine very few things worse than getting wet in very cold weather. Nevertheless, playground fun aside, a water gun can be quite helpful when attempting to remove the snow accumulated on a satellite dish.
Of course, there is no law stating you cannot play with water guns during the winter, but should you feel like using it, why not get some work done meanwhile?
Just fill the squirt guns with hot water and test your aiming and firing skills against the snow accumulated on top of your satellite dish. Afterwards, once you get under the blankets to fight the cold again, the performance of your TV will make the fun time even more worthwhile.
- Use a Soft Brush
If at this point you haven’t tried any of the fixes and when you look at your satellite dish, it seems like it’s too late to try anything mentioned so far, maybe it’s time you grab a ladder, a soft brush, and meet your satellite dish for a cleaning session. By removing the snow with a soft brush, you don’t risk damaging the smooth surface and diminishing the quality of your signal.
As a safety measure, and in order to have some more time before having to get it cleaned again, we suggest you also remove the snow around the satellite dish and maybe, once you’re already there, why not cover it with the cooking oil or the plastic bag and save you some more time in future?
- Use a Proper Cover for the Dish
Finally, if you either do not trust the easy fixes listed here or you think they will not provide you with a long-lasting solution, you can always go for what the sellers recommend and purchase a special dish cover. The newest ones will fit your satellite dish perfectly since they are specially designed for this purpose. On top of that, by having a nylon composition, there’s a better chance that the snow will just slide off the dish rather than accumulating on top of it.
Best of all, it will not hinder the quality of the signal. Since the experts who developed these special covers gave some thought – not only to the snow issue – but also to maintaining the signal quality, they’re way ahead of the game on this. Still, for the fun of it, we would always go for the squirt gun option first. After all, why would anyone choose to miss out on that?
I found Disk Shield does an amazing job of protecting satelite dishes from wind and rain. It’s unique coating makes it waterproof to the rain as well as snow.
Where can I buy Disk Sheilds
Where can I get the disk shield? Does it work for Dish Network?