The evaporation heat transfer characteristics of propane(R-290) in horizontal small diameter tubes were investigated experimentally. The test tubes have inner diameters of 1 mm and 4 mm. Local heat transfer coefficients were measured at heat fluxes of 12, $24;kW/m^2$, mass fluxes of 150, $300;kg/m^2s$, and evaporation temperature of $15^{circ}C$. The experimental results showed that the evaporation heat transfer coefficient of R-290 has an effect on heat flux, mass flux, tube diameter, and vapor quality. The evaporation heat transfer of R-290 has an influenced on nucleate boiling at low quality and convective boiling at high quality. The evaporation heat transfer coefficient of R-290 increases with decreasing inner tube diameter. And the evaporation heat transfer coefficient of R-290 is about 1~3 times higher than that of R-134a.