AbstractIn the present investigation solar water pumps using packed‐bed collectors have been developed. It has been experimentally observed that the performance behaviour of such pumps is much superior to that of a solar water pump using conventional plain collectors. Among the solar water pumps developed, the one using iron‐turning packed‐bed collectors exhibits the best performance.It is interesting to conclude that the performance of a solar water pump using conventional (plain) collectors can be improved appreciably just by packing the collectors with metallic mate