An experimental study of the forced convection heat transfer for non-Newtonian fluid flow in a pipe is presented. We focus particularly on the transitional regime. A wall boundary heating condition of heat flux is imposed. The non-Newtonian fluid used is Carbopol (polyacrylic acid) aqueous solutions. Detailed rheology as well as the variation of the rheological parameters with temperature are reported. Newtonian and shear thinning fluids are also tested for comparative purposes. The characterization of the flow and the thermal convection is made via the pressure drop and the wall temperature measurements over a range of Reynolds number from laminar to turbulent regime. Our measurements show that the non-Newtonian character stabilizes the flow, i.e., the critical Reynolds number to transitional flow increases with shear thinning and yield stress. The heat transfer coefficients are given and compared with heat transfer laws for different regime flows. Details when the heat transfer coefficient loses rapidly its local dependence on the Reynolds number are analyzed. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.