The thermal behavior of a canned motor also depends on the losses and the cooling capability, and these losses cause an increase in the temperature of the stator winding. This paper focuses on the modeling and simulation of the thermal fields of the large canned induction motor by different calculation methods of water friction loss. The values of water friction losses are set as heat sources in the corresponding clearance of water at different positions along the duct and are calculated by the analytical method, loss separation test method, and by assuming the values that may be larger than the experimental results and at zero. Based on Finite volume method (FVM), 3D turbulent flow and heat transfer equations of the canned motor are solve numerically to obtain the temperature distributions of different parts of the motor. The analysis results of water friction loss are compared with the measurements, obtained from the total losses using the loss separation method. The results show that the magnitude of water friction loss within various parts of the motor does not affect the position of peak temperature and the tendency of the temperature distribution of windings. This paper is highly significant for the design of cooling structures of electrical machines.