The sheet-and-tube solar water heater is a convenient and common heater to be used as domestic hot water heating. This paper investigates the effects on collector efficiency of a double-pass sheet-and-tube solar water heater with fins attached under various arrayed density. In addition, the number of pair ducts and total mass flow rate are taken into account during the calculation procedure. The theoretical prediction shows that the higher collector efficiency is obtained under the suitable designing and operating parameters. Considerable improvement in collector performance is obtained by employing a recyclic operation with fins attached and under various arrayed density, instead of employing a single-pass flat-plate device. The effect of the recycle ratio, arrayed density and number of fins attached on the collector efficiency enhancement as well as the power consumption increment has also delineated. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.