Cooking-oil fires often happen while cooking in the kitchen. When this happens one may think first to grab a cup of water to put the fire out. Putting water on a fire burning with oil is a big mistake and will cause the fire to spread. The water is denser then the oil so the water will go below the oil and make contact with the hot pan and oil which will then vaporize into steam. When the water goes below the oil, it expands at a high rate upwardly, causing an explosive like effect and shooting flaming oil. The water will also help spread the oil and allow for a larger area to burn.
The best thing to use in a Cooking oil fire would be a form of non-combustable powder such as baking soda. When the baking soda is thrown onto the oil fire it forms a blanket over the oil and separates the heat from the oil. One source must be taken away from the fire to put the fire out. There are three sources a fire needs to burn and they are heat, fuel, and oxygen. If one the sources can be taken away the fire will usually go out unless the wrong way of putting it out is used such as the oil on the water.
Another way to put out an oil fire out that is in a frying pan is to simply place the lid over it and take the oxygen away causing it to suffocate itself. There are common house hold powders that should not be used. Corn starch and flour, and coffee creamer are a few of them. These items are flammable and can cause the fire to continue to burn and possibly spread out. The reason why the products are grain products that are processed which allow for them to burn.
Why not to use water on an Oil fire!
Annotated Bibliography
Liu, Z., D. Carpenter, and A. K. Kim, “Characteristics of a large cooking oil pool fires and their Extinguishment by water mist,” Journal of Loss Prevention in the process Industries, 19, 516- 526 (2006); comment by Jones, J. C., 20, 182 (2007)
In this Journal They discuss how large industrial cookers are used in many major food processing plants. Sever fires can occur when over heated or by simple human error. Water mists can be used to extinguish oil fires if used in small amounts and very lightly.
This information is useful and reliable because many think you can not put water on an oil fire at all. With the right amount of mist it can be done. There is a calculation that is used to figure out how much of a mist can be used to be successful. They talk about how the results were found and what happened in each.
Ma, T., S. M. Olenick, M.S. Klassen, R. J. Roby, and J. L. Torero, “Burning rate of liquid fuel on carpet (porus media),” Fire Technology, 40, 227-246 (2004)
This article talks about how liquid fuel burns on items such as carpet. It talks about how the transfer of heat and mass was first developed to analyze the burning process of liquid on carpet.
This is useful to help know how much area can burn from a certain concentration area that may have something like cooking oil on it. This will help one to understand what the burn area can be and what it may need to help put the fire out. The information in this article is reliable. They show how they conducted their experiments and give details to each of their results.
Nam, S., “Boilover upon suppression of cooking oil fire by water spray,” Fire Safety Journal, 39, 429-432 (2004)
This article talks about how water spray can be used to put out cooking oil fires. Not only does the water put out the fire but can also help cool the oil and prevent it from igniting again. There was no fire ignition when the mist was used from the oil exploding.
This article was useful to know that the mist not only puts the fire out but also cools the oil and helps prevent the fire from spreading to other areas from the splash of the fire. The information is very reliable for the fact of the research that was done to come up with the end results.
Youtube (2008). Grease Fire Demo. Retrieved October 25, 2009 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O72hjUc4PIk&feature=related.html
This video helps support why one should not put water on a cooking oil fire. The fire blows up into large flames which supports how water reacts to oil fires in a bad way. Just a small amount of water can make an oil fire go out of control.
For those that feel this is good enough to pass on to others. Just Go For It! You have my permission.