An experimental investigation was carried out on the boiling heat transfer enhancement of water on plain tubes in compact staggered tube-bundle evaporators under atmospheric and sub-atmospheric pressures. The experiment investigated the effects of the tube spacing and positioning and the test pressure on the boiling heat transfer characteristics in restricted spaces of compact tube bundles. The experimental results indicated that for compact tube bundles, the effect of the tube spacing is very significant on the boiling heat transfer. The boiling heat transfer has a maximum enhancement when the tube spacing is so selected as to take an optimum value. The enhanced heat transfer efficiency for the compact bundles would gradually decrease as the test pressure was reduced.