The thermal behavior of a particular flat-plate integrated collector storage solar water heater (ICSSWH) is examined, experimentally and numerically. The particularity consists of the indirect heating of the service hot water, through a heat exchanger incorporated into front and back major surfaces of the ICSSWH. Natural and forced convection mechanisms are both examined. A prototype tank was fabricated and experimental data of temperature profiles are extracted, during various energy withdrawals. A 3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was developed and validated against experimental results. Numerical predictions are found highly accurate, providing thus the use of the 3D CFD model for the optimization of this and similar devices. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.