A copper-water capillary pumped loop (CPL) is developed for heat recovery applications in the field of the refrigeration and air conditioning. The multi-layer copper meshes are used as the capillary structure in the CPL. The startup characteristics and heat transfer performance of the CPL are investigated experimentally. The experimental results show that for a range of power applied to the evaporator, the system presented reliable startups and continuous operation. The heat transfer performance of the evaporator will be improved if the charging rate of the working fluid or the heat flux is increased properly. The optimal charging rate could be obtained in the range of 70-76% for the given experimental conditions. The study has demonstrated the proposed CPL configuration is able to perform the heat recovery applications. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.