Plumbers in Stonewall, Texas

The water has to be of drinking quality

Anything that touches produce which will be eaten raw has to be potable. That is the whole principle, and it catches people out because the water in question often comes from a well or a tank that has never been tested for the purpose.

If the stand draws from a private well, get it tested, and keep the results with the rest of the business paperwork. If it draws from a tank filled elsewhere, the tank, the hose and the fill point are all part of the chain and any one of them can spoil it.

Untreated surface water, irrigation water and anything from a pond are not options for washing produce, however clear they look. Those supplies have their own uses and this is not one of them.

Hand washing, and where the water goes

A hand basin with running water, soap and a way to dry hands is the fixture people forget, and it is the first thing looked for. It has to be reachable from where the work happens rather than back at the house, which for a roadside stand means plumbing it into the stand itself or providing a proper portable arrangement with a fresh tank and a waste tank.

Keep hand washing separate from produce washing. One basin used for both is the arrangement most likely to be objected to, and a second small basin is a cheap thing to add at the start.

Wash water is the other half. Produce rinse carries soil and it should not simply run onto the ground where customers park, and it must not be routed to a storm inlet. On a small operation the usual answer is a vegetated area away from the stand, sized for the volume. On a larger one, a proper connection to a septic system, with the load accounted for.

Do not tie a stand into the household septic without checking. A few hundred gallons a day in peach season, full of soil, is a real addition to a system designed for a family.

Seasonal by design, and how we work

A stand that runs for eight weeks and sits for forty-four should be built to be drained. Isolation valves where the supply leaves the house or the tank, hose bibs that empty, and no pipework left charged over winter. It is the difference between opening the stand next June and repairing it next June.

The other seasonal problem is the opposite: water standing in a line all winter arrives stale at the first customer. Flush it thoroughly before the first day rather than on it.

We set up stands, plumb basins and drainage, test wells for this purpose and connect seasonal supplies. Stonewall, Fredericksburg, Johnson City and Hye are all a short drive for us.