The aim of this paper is to establish the heat transfer model of all-glass vacuum tube collector used in forced-circulation solar water heating system. In this model, the simplified heat transfer of collector is composed of the natural convection in single glass tube and forced flow in manifold header. Thus the heat balance equation of water in single tube and the heat balance equation of water in manifold header have been established. The flow equation is also built by analyzing the friction and buoyancy in tube. Through solved these equations the relationship between the collector average temperature, the outlet temperature and natural convection flow rate have been obtained. From this relationship and energy balance equation of collector, the collector outlet temperature can be calculated. The validated experiments of this model were carried out in winter of Beijing. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.