The liquid jet breakup is a ubiquitous phenomenon in nature and a classic problem in hydrodynamics. The understanding of the jet breakup mechanism of hot liquids is still a challenge for researchers. The objective of this work was to understand and control the hot water spray jet breakup mechanism at moderate pumping pressures and elevated temperature. For this purpose, the visual and comparative studies were conducted on hollow cone water spray patterns generated by three hollow cone spray nozzles which were installed in an in-house built intermittently forced liquid spraying system. Using a high speed camera, the jet breakup dynamics were visualized as a function of system input parameters. The analysis of the grabbed images confirmed the strong influence of these processing parameters on spray characteristics. It was also predicted that heated liquids generate the dispersed spray patterns and the induction of thermal energy into the system enhances the jet disintegration ability. The spray cone width and angle were not varied significantly whereas the Weber and Reynolds numbers along with other spray parameters showed an appreciable response to the load pressure and water heating temperature at early stages of water injection. © (2014) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.