Fire hazards of introducing water and ice into hot oil in open kitchen

The fire hazard of heating oil in a pan using an induction cooker under various scenarios will be studied in this article. Experiments were carried out in a mock-up kitchen on introducing water or ice to a heated oil pan at temperature below and above the auto-ignition temperature. A total of six groups of flaming conditions were conducted under varying oil depths and quantity of water or ice added. The cooking oil was heated until it ignited and was allowed to burn freely for a period of time to maintain flame over the oil surface in all tests except one. On adding water or ice to the flaming oil, vapor explosion accompanied with a big fire was observed. In another group of tests, water or ice was added to the oil without flame. In these tests, flames were not observed. Gray fog of steam and oil droplets was generated.