Methods for water treatment

A process for enhancing filterability in a water system comprising the steps of:

• providing a feeder in the form of a compact shell of water-proof plastic of substantially neutral buoyancy having in its top a filler port and closure therefor, and a number of feeder holes greater than five thousandth of an inch (0.005") in diameter and less than three square millimeters in cross section;
• containing a dose of water-treatment chemicals and wherein said number and the size of said holes provide a desired rate of feeding of said chemicals;
• placing said feeder so as to be free to move about and turn within an intermediate velocity chamber of said water system which also includes a body of water and means to cause a flow of water of said body through said system;
• and
• subjecting said feeder to said flow thereby to extract said dose at a substantially uniform rate to treat said water,
• wherein said dose consists essentially of a charge of a dry, granular inorganic coagulant loaded through said filler hole, and a quantity of organic polymer flocculant in aqueous solution added to said coagulant in an effective quantity to consolidate said coagulant into a solid mass adherent to the bottom of said feeder, and whereby in the absence of said flow, said feeder is urged by said mass to repose with said number of said holes upward, thereby substantially to stop the feeding of said dose.

A process for maintaining an effective level of bromine germicides in the water of a bathing system comprising the steps of:

• providing an effective concentration of bromide ion by adding a suitable alkali metal bromide to said water,
• providing a feeder in the form of a compact shell of waterproof plastic having in its top a filler port and closure therefor, and a number of feeder holes greater than five thousandth of an inch (0.005") in diameter and less than three square millimeters in cross section;
• containing a dose of an oxidizing agent chemical comprising potassium peroxymonosulfate and wherein said number and thesize of said holes yield a desired rate of feeding of said dose;
• placing said feeder so as to be free to move about and turn within an intermediate velocity chamber of said water system which also includes a body of water and means to cause a flow of water of said body through said system;
• and
• said chemical at a substantially uniform rate,
• wherein said dose consists essentially of a charge of a dry, granular composition loaded through said filler port, which, when wetted forms a mass adherent to the bottom of said feeder, and
• wherein said feeder is so weighted and buoyed that in the absence of said flow said feeder is urged by said mass to repose with said number of said holes upward, thereby substantially to stop the feeding of said chemicals.