Improper install? (1 Viewer)

[Shade Watson]

On Sunday Sep 9 I had my Direct Tivo and Multidish professionally installed. I was very busy, and not watching him closely. He seemed to have some trouble, but everything seemed to be working when he left.
I think he did not know what he was doing. He seemed to be confused by the Multidish's built in multiswitch when he first started, and now I can not tune in some channels like the NASA channel. Is it possible that he only has the dish pointing at one of the satellites? In my area, Houston, I believe the local channels are on the main satellite. So most people in my area only have the round dish. I think the whole "Multidish Concept" was over his head.
Anyway, I am new to Satellite TV, so maybe it is me who is confused.
Also, Isn't there some sort of code requiring that the Satellite feeds be grounded? He sent the leads straight down my outside wall and directly into my connector jacks inside my house. Is this right? I live in unincorporated Harris County, boardering Houston.
I don't currently have HDTV. Do I even need to be able to "see" more than one satellite? How would I check this?
Thanks

 

[Glenn Overholt]

Yeah, there should be a grounding post just outside of your house. One line would be for the sat to the post, and a new one from the post to inside of your house.
If the post isn't there, and you want to have a little fun, call your insurance company up and tell them what they did. I think that will back it up pretty quick.
Glenn

 

[Shade Watson]

I'm home now, and I have figured out that I am getting zero signal from the 119 satellite on all transponders. I guess this means that the Installer was as much of a moron as I took him to be.
The reason I had it professionally installed is because I wanted someone who knew more than me. Well when he got here and I had to explain to him that the multiswitch is built into the dish, I knew I had wasted my money.
I will call Allstate tomorrow, the people at the install company were way to smug.

 

[BlaineJ]

Shade - It sounds like you have a similar problem that my neighbor had. He has Dish, I have DirecTV. In the Winter of '99 we had a hellacious ice storm that split trees all around us like toothpicks. One knocked his sat dish off the post (fortunately, it didn't hit his house) so we put it back up, pointed it upwards, and hit a satellite. He was missing several channels, though. The next day he fiddled with it some more and found that we had it pointed to the wrong bird. Fixed that problem and all his channels appeared again.
Sounds like your installer has the wrong satellite honed in.
As for the ground wire, is it possible that he drove a ground rod into the ground near the dish?

 

[Shade Watson]

If I sound hostile it is because the people that I have been talking to about this problem don't believe me and keep trying to pass the buck.
I purchased my system from American Satellite. They hired Installation Pro, a national company, to handle the install. Installation Pro hired New Vision, a local company, to do the actual work.
When I complained to American Satellite, they said we didn't do the install, call Installation Pro. Well they sure as hell took my money for the installation, so they should be more helpful.
Installation Pro said that I am basically full of shit, that they only hire professional installers, and if something seems wrong, I must just be confused about something. The woman I talked to said that there is no possible way that the dish is not grounded.
New Vision claimed that I was confused and insisted that I talk to Direct TV to try and determine what the problem is. Never mind that I just told her what the problem is. Obviously she was expecting the Direct TV rep to explain to me my Service package and what channels I am supposed to get and which ones I am not.
Anyway, I went home last night, called Direct TV, then I walked through the set up and basically had to explain to the rep how this proves that my dish is not pointed at the 119 satellite, because she sure wasn't going to be able to figure anything out on her own.
I called New Vision today and the smug woman named "Love" said that she would have the guy who installed my dish call me at work today. Well it is after 6 and no call.
If they would just be brave and face the fact that it is possible that my dish is not installed right, then I would not be so pissed.
I know that the Dish needs to be re-positioned and grounded. I don't see how the install company can get out of re-positioning it for me. However, what is the law about grounding? I live in unincorporated Harris County, right outside of Houston. Is it possible that they are not required to ground the Satellite where I live? Who could I report this to?
Sorry for the ranting, thanks for your help.

 

[CRyan]

Ahh, the problems with sattelite. This is one area where both Dish and DTV are shooting themselves in the foot. Yeah, cable sucks, but at least you are only dealing with ONE company when installation problems arise.
I had the same damn problem with Dish. Although, the Dish people were very helpfull in the matter. They finally got it straigntened out for me. They actually monitored my phone conversation with the local install company. That helped a lot!
Anyway, when you are dealing with multiple companies, they will all pass the blame it seems. At least I only had to deal with two companies. Why in the Hell do they have yet a another third company to mediate? Ugh. I feel for you.
They obviously have the dish pointed at the wrong bird. But before you complain too hard about the lack of grounding, make sure it is not grounded. Many times there is a grounding cable wrapped within the actualy Coax shielding. Follow every lead from the dish to the entry point into the house. How old is your house? Usually there is a grounding rod near the meter. This can be used, but sometimes the ground is hooked into another outside source like an air conditioner.
Anyway, looks like you just need to get the company that actually installed it on the phone and have them schedule a time to come out. Of course they will give you a 6 hour window.

C. Ryan
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[Glenn Overholt]

I'm not sure now, but I think that if you have a lightning rod on your roof they could ground it to that. Don't know how it works, but that is why I suggested calling up your insurance company. If it is illegally installed, they would know it. If your house burned to the ground because it wasn't grounded, I don't think they'd pay. But, as others have said, they could have run the wire to something else.
Glenn

 

[John Murphy]

Shade
I know very little about satellite install, but gounding to the AC unit is not good. I am an HVAC engineer. Most units are are grounded at the main panel and not where they are mounted. The problem with using this point is it will back feed your panel and all the house on it's way to ground. We just took a lightning strike to the brick chimney here at work. An antenna was not grounded correctly and the rest is history, modems, lan cards and pc all toast.
Drop a rod in the gound, piece of rebar from the hardware store and gound to this.
John

 

[Glenn Overholt]

John, that was the whole idea. The installer was supposed to have done it.
Glenn

 

[KeithW]

Recently having lost $8000 worth of equipment due to electrical charge coming through my satellite RGB cable I am sympathetic to your predicament. Installing a grounding block or rod is not difficult. In fact I have found that two grounds are better than one. Your homeowners insurance carrier will be glad to provide you with insight and contacts of how to reduce your potential damages due to electrical charges.
I had surge protectors for all of my electrical but didn't have my RGB going into one. I have since bought a TrippLite surge protector with $50,000 insurance for RGB and electrical. The price of a quality surge protector (for RGB) compared to $1000 deductible is an easy comparison.
While the installer may not be the one you paid your money, they are both responsible for the work. I suggest you document as much as possible ie. write down dates, times, names, etc; ask for supervisors, owners etc. instead of clerks or secretaries, take photos of the install for later. If you are still unsuccessful, you may wish to notify them in writing that if they don't return to do the job correctly you will hire somebody else to inspect their work with reimbursement of any costs associated with the fix being sought from them. They don't make any money on returning to your home therefore they need to be encouraged a little more forcefully. If you are certain they did something wrong, you may even ask for the cost of a service visit and agree to pay that amount if the mistake is yours and not theirs so long as they agree to send a different and experienced installer.
A call to your county's electrical or building code enforcement division could provide some more useful info as to any county code requirements including licenses to do business etc.

 

[StephenL]

Grounding: Link Removed (This is the National Electrical Code. Search for "dish")
http://www.mikeholt.com/Newsletters/satellite.htm
http://www.panamax.com/literaturetec...pdf/gndcbl.pdf
http://www.cinergy.com/surge/ttip08.htm
http://www.psihq.com/iread/strpgrnd.htm
http://www.powerclinic.com/tex01.htm
http://www.powerclinic.com/images/te1fig1.gif
http://www.polyphaser.com/ppc_technical.asp
http://www.qsl.net/n1lo/tower.htm

 

[Shade Watson]

Installation Pro sent over an installer from a different company last night. He claimed all I needed was a multiswitch to get the extra channels. I told him that I already have a multiswitch as part of my multidish.
He didn't believe me. After arguing for a while I convinced him to go up on the roof and look. Well he found out that I was right all a long. Did I get an apology, no.
He wanted to install a ground rod below the dish. I already have a ground rod in the back of my house below the main electrical panel. I told him to ground to there. He said that the distance from the dish to the ground needed to be shorter than the distance from the dish to the TV.
I told him that two grounds was bad. That I didn't want current flowing through my system and all that. I told him that he would have to connect the two grounds if he added a new one.
He finally agreed, and is coming back tonight after he gets more grounding wire.
Does this sound right? Do I need a new ground below the dish? Or should he just run the ground around the house to the main rod (It is not very close to the dish as he said)?

 

[CRyan]

My experience was with the DishMover Program. When dealing with Dish or Direct TV directly for service, this is the problem you run into. Has nothing to do with a third party reseller. When having Dish install your system, there is no choice of installers.
Free installation promotions through Dish or even when purchasing installation tickets from them, gets you their third part installer. There is no control in this matter.
Either way, you are still forced to deal with a third party company for the install. Whether it is a reputable local company or not, you still have the problem associated with several companies when something goes wrong. You always seem to have one blaming the other.
Cable has its own problems, but at least when something goes wrong, there is only on company that deals with every aspect of the system.
C. Ryan
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