The a priory unknown peculiarities of heat transfer in superheated hydrocarbons with water traces have been studied experimentally. The approach was based on the relative version of the method of controlled pulse heating of a wire probe at constant current mode. The pulse duration was varied in the range of 1-120 ms. A region of probe temperature rise was limited from above by the value of spontaneous boiling up temperature of a substance. The objects of study were n-hexane, n-decane, and n-hexadecane. The water content was varied in the range from 5 ppm (initial sample) to 35 ppm (watered sample). A sharp increase in the heat transfer intensity for watered sample with respect to that of initial one has been revealed. The observed effect was manifested solely at temperatures close to the values of boiling-up temperature of watered sample. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.