In this paper, a numerical study was performed to investigate the performance characteristics of a pre-heater. The effects of fin pitch and fin array type(in-line, staggered, leaned array) were reported in terms of Colburn j-factor and Fanning friction factor f, as a function of Re. Three-dimensional numerical simulation has been performed by using flow analysis program, FLUENT 13.0. The results show that Colburn j-factor decreases with the decrease of fin pitch attached in the annular tube. But the fin pitch has little effect on f-factor. The staggered array and leaned array show improved heat transfer performance compared with in-line array, so that Colburn j-factor was increased. It also shows that the f-factor of leaned array is the highest in the studied range of Reynolds number.