In the present study, an analytical approach governing the temperature rise in the solid pipe and fluid is presented, The entropy analysis in the fluid system due to heat transfer is introduced to obtain the integrated entropy generation in the system. Coolanol, water and mercury are selected as fluids while copper and steel are considered as pipe materials, In order to simplify the analysis, the heat transfer coefficient at solid-liquid interface is kept constant during the calculations. It is found that the fluid temperature rise in the early heating period and the integrated entropy generation in the fluid system is lower in the case of a copper pipe, Copyright, (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.