Abstract Condensation oscillation of submerged steam jet in water pool was investigated. From the experiments it was found that the dominant frequency of condensation oscillation was proportional to steam mass flux for steam mass flux under 300 kg/m2 s and inversely proportional for over 300 kg/m2 s. The frequency was always inversely proportional to pool temperature. For the high steam mass flux region (over 300 kg/m2 s), one-dimensional mechanistic model was developed based on the balance of the kinetic energy that the steam jet gives and the pool water receives, adopting the submerged turbulent jet theory. The proposed model excellently predicted the dominant frequencies for the steam mass flux 300–900 kg/m2 s and water temperature 35–75 °C. For the higher water temperature, the developed model also could predict the dominant frequencies by adjusting the ratio of jet expansion coefficients of vapor dominant region and liquid dominant region.