Burning oil and water

[Dan J]

This is something i first read about in The sas survival handbook by john wiseman.

It says burning a mix of oil and water will make one of the hottest fires. think he might be suggesting for use as an incinerator.

the instructions are to put oil and water in seperate cans, pierce a hole in the bottom of each and let them drip down a trough (in a mix of 2-3 drops water to 1 drop of oil) onto a heated metal plate.
You then light this mixture.

Has anyone tried this??

Also a friends grandad was an army field cook in WW2 and he said they had a cooker that worked in this way only using diesel and water. Anyone heard of that?

 

[rik_uk3]

Yep, this was certainly used in heaters at one time so can't see why it would not have been used in a stove. I remember a garage near Capel Curig many years ago using similar to heat the workshop.

 

[calgarychef]

I haven't done it but I do know that the oil and water land on a steel burner plate with a heat source under it to get everything burning first. You can't just light the oil/water mixture. I guess it's like hot oil in a frying pan throw in a few drops of water and watch the fireball!

 

[Colin.W]

Having done fire fighting training when I was in the RN I can testify if you put water on an oil fire what you have is a very hot inferno to try to deal with so if it was done in a controlled situation I can understand the science behind it. the water boiling through the hot oil increases the surface area of the oil which turns to vapour

 

[Dan J]

Thought I'd resurect this question and see if it got any more replies.

 

[Skelleftea78]

Having done fire fighting training when I was in the RN I can testify if you put water on an oil fire what you have is a very hot inferno to try to deal with so if it was done in a controlled situation I can understand the science behind it. the water boiling through the hot oil increases the surface area of the oil which turns to vapour

Like this [video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln5egDJxJm0[/video]

 

[Robson Valley]

Yup. The water flashes into steam which is a gas. That expanding hot gas blows the oil into fuel vapor droplets. WHAM!
Fighting airport fuel fires is done with foam, partly to smother the fire and partly to escape the fuel vapor flash, had water been used.

Was a demo done on Mythbusters some time ago.
Pot of SUPER-HOT cooking oil on the stove, water added.
Incinerated everything in the mock-up kitchen.

 

[Hammock_man]

Which is why, if you put a damp cloth over a smoking chip pan, it MUST be well wrung out.