A model for a pressure drop of water vapor flow across tube banks in a horizontal tube absorber of an absorption chiller/heater using LiBr solution as a working fluid has been developed based on a commercial 20RT(70kW) absorption chiller/heater. The numerical results show that the characteristic of the pressure drop in the shell side of the horizontal tube absorber is completely different from that in a conventional shell and tube heat exchanger. Especially, solution film thickness has significant influence on the vapor pressure drop in the horizontal tube absorber. In addition, the effects by the tube diameters, the longitudinal pitch to diameter ratio, and Reynolds number of the vapor flow, on the vapor pressure drop have been studied to evaluate the compactness of tube absorber. It was found that the vapor pressure drop decreases as tube diameter increases, the longitudinal pitch to diameter ratio increases, and Reynolds number of the vapor flow decreases. A comparison of the present study results with well-established experimental and numerical results showed a good overall agreement.