In recent years, C6F12O gas mixtures has shown extensive prospects for application in medium and low-voltage gas-insulated equipment due to its superior electrical performance and environmental friendliness. The presence of trace water may promote overheating decomposition of gas mixtures. Therefore, studying the thermal decomposition characteristics of C6F12O in a trace water condition is of significant importance for the industrial application, operation, and maintenance of gas equipment. In this paper, the thermal decomposition characteristics of C6F12O/CO2 gas mixtures under trace water conditions are investigated both experimentally and theoretically. The analysis of decomposition products is conducted using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS) on a constructed experimental platform for C6F12O/CO2 gas mixtures overheating. Based on ReaxFF molecular dynamics (ReaxFF-MD), the decomposition characteristics of the gas mixtures over time and the concentration of trace water are observed. The main decomposition reaction paths of C6F12O/CO2 gas mixtures under trace water conditions are analyzed at a microscopic level. Experiment results indicate that the main thermal decomposition products include CF4, C2F6, C3F6, C3F8, CF2O, C3F7H, C4F10, C6F14, C5F12, and CF3H. Additionally, trace water facilitates the thermal decomposition of the C6F12O/CO2 gas mixtures. Theoretical results indicate that multi-step decomposition occurs in the C6F12O component of the gas mixtures, with main generated intermediates including CO, F, CF3, C2F5, C3F7, CFO2, CF2, C2, CF, C4F7O, CF3O, CFO, O, C3F5O, CF2O, C, C2O, H, and OH. The findings of this study provide a foundation for further exploration of trace water content values in C6F12O gas mixtures at a microscopic level in subsequent research.