What actually damages a dish install
Four things, in rough order of how often they bite: wind, ice, sun, and animals. Wind loads the bracket and, more importantly, loads whatever it is fixed to — a mount rated far above what your roof can take is not the safe choice. Ice adds weight to the face of the dish and changes the load the arm sees. Sun degrades plastic and cable jackets over years, not months. Animals chew cables and nest in warm gaps behind brackets.
Sealing is the part people rush. Any penetration needs a fixing suited to the actual surface — shingle, metal, tile and flat membrane all want different hardware and different sealant — and it needs the seal made at the bracket, not smeared around it afterwards. A bracket bolted to a wall with the wrong anchor will work loose long before the bracket itself fails.
Then it is maintenance, which is mostly looking. Once or twice a year, check that the bracket has not moved, the fixings are still tight, the cable jacket is not cracked where it enters the building, and nothing has built a nest behind the plate. Five minutes, and it catches nearly everything before it becomes a lost link.
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Common questions
Do I need a dish cover?
In heavy snow or intense sun a cover helps; in normal use the dish is built to sit outside year-round.
How do I stop the mount being stolen?
A tamper-resistant bracket and discreet siting; the wall bracket keeps it close to the house.
Will wind damage the dish?
A correctly rated mount carries the load; the common failure is a weak or loose fixing, not the dish itself.