The impact of water quality on the use of solar water heaters in remote Islands of Taiwan

The use of solar water heaters (SWHs) in Taiwan's remote islands has been subjected to scaling and, in particular, corrosion problems due to sources of water. In this study, four different water quality indices including the Langelier Saturation Index (LSI), the Ryznar Stability Index (RSI), the Puckorius Scaling Index (PSI), and the Larson-Skold Corrosive Index (LSCI) were employed to assess the scaling and corrosion tendencies in SWHs caused by tap water and ground water in the Penghu, Kinmen, and Lienchiang counties, each of which is constituted of several remote islands. In general, the LSI, the RSI, and the PSI results show a slight scaling tendency in Penghu, but a corrosion tendency in Kinmen and Lienchiang. Nevertheless, all LSCI results show a serious steel corrosion tendency in these three counties. In addition, the chloride ion (Cl^-) concentrations are higher than 45 mg/L in either tap water (except for the Lieyu township in Kinmen) or ground water. This fact resulted in serious corrosion problems, as found in the currently installed SWHs, which were mainly made from 304 stainless steel. The metals with higher corrosion resistance to chloride ions are required in the manufacture of SWHs to be installed on these three remote-island counties.