A simulation of forced convection solar heated water system is presented. A computer program is developed consisting of independent subroutines, capable of handling the variation of the collector tube diameter, tube spacing, ambient conditions, material thermal properties, collector and system design optimization. The meteorological data of Riyadh were used as the input in the program to simulate the performance of the collector system. The output of the program is analyzed to optimize the system design in the Riyadh region. The results of the simulations are compared with experimental data. There is a good agreement between the predicted and measured values. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.