Pro-level development has always been something we take serious here at Master Divers and we believe right now is the time for dive professionals to brush up their skill set and get ready for a successful future in the diving industry. Our Head Instructor Jason answered a few questions on why he thinks the PADI Tec Rec Gas Blender course is exactly what you need to make yourself more employable.
“Now is the time to learn a new skill!”
Hello Jason! Thank you for taking the time and telling us a little bit more about the PADI Tec Rec Gas Blender course. Why is it a good idea for any dive professional to get the Gas Blender certification?
Diving on Nitrox is very popular, but there a lack of qualified gas blenders. It certainly helped me to get jobs in the past, because it meant having more of a diverse skill set.
The course itself talks you through oxygen and its properties; we also cover what it means to have your equipment oxygen cleaned. Depending on the background and knowledge of my students, I spend a good bit of time with them covering the basics of compressor use, how to change a filter, maintenance cycles and they learn how to look after a compressor. We have two blending systems here at Master Divers: we’ve got a partial pressure system and we’ve got a continuous flow system, but we will also go through other blending methods.
That sounds very interesting! Is it purely a theoretical course?
No, of course there will be also some practical application to this! We will have an oxygen cleaning workshop and also a session where we will learn how to use the compressor, the air banks, the partial pressure and continuous flow mixing. There is a minimum requirement of a certain amount of blends that each student needs to do, but we keep the class sizes small which generally allows us to beat that minimum requirement.
Our Gas Blender poster that you can find around the island…
Also, if you are hanging around on the island, you are welcome to come down and I will supervise you pumping Nitrox. This is a great way of getting more experience in.
I think that’s pretty straightforward. Anything else the students need to know?
Since there is actually quite a bit of theory involved in the course, I would recommend to get the materials a week in advance to have some time to digest it all and let it all sink in. There are four chapters which we need to cover for this course and I recommend doing one or two a night to avoid information overload. There is also a final exam, which can be a bit tricky, so make sure you’ve done your homework!
Don’t worry too much about it – it is achievable! You need to be a Nitrox diver and minimum 18 years old. Mostly the PADI Gas Blender course is aimed at dive professionals and it certainly helps to already have a deeper understanding of the physics of diving with gases, pressure, volume and density and gas laws, for example.
Once the students are certified as a PADI Tec Rec Gas Blender what exactly are they certified to do?
First of all, of course you will be certified to fill Nitrox. After one or two supervised sessions of filling, new gas blenders should feel confident and familiar with the way the blending system they’re working on.
I don’t recommend just approaching a blending system and getting on with it without a little bit of research, how it’s put together and how it works. Your dive centre might ask you to take the course and then implement a system that caters for the needs of your particular dive centre. As part of the course we go through design considerations and talk about gas blending system designs.
That sounds really interesting and I’m sure a lot of dive professionals are now keen to get started! What’s the first step?
Cool! You simply need to pay a deposit for the course to get your materials and then we can schedule the training. Since we’re aiming the course at dive professionals, the schedule is absolutely flexible and we can set up the training sessions around the participants’ work schedules.
It’s a great time to do the course now, while it’s still very quiet here. It’s a great time to reinforce your skill set and get a bit of practice in. It’s always a good idea to take more courses to improve your employment chances rather than relying on being an MSDT with the same five Specialty ratings like many other instructors. The Gas Blender rating certainly stands out and helped me get job offers around the world.
You’re right, it does sound like a great certification to have on your CV! Are there currently a lot of gas blenders on the island?
I don’t have exact numbers, but definitely not a lot, no.
Why do you think that is?
The challenging part is having the correct facilities; you need specialised equipment. Master Divers invested significantly; we bought a new Coltri compressor, new air banks, hyper filters, etc. This is something we enjoy doing and are specialised in, partly because there are not that many people on Koh Tao who offer the PADI Tec Rec Gas Blender course.
Amazing. Thanks for taking the time and explaining a few things on this very special course to our readers. Is there anything else we need to know?
Going along with our Star Wars theme at Master Divers we designed a Jedi Master Gas Blender t-shirt, obviously with Yoda on the back. It’s a special edition and while we have them on stock you get a FREE t-shirt with your course.
The special edition Gas Blender shirt! Who wants one?
Is the PADI Tec Rec Gas Blender course something you would be interested in? Send us a message if you have any more questions about the course setup or schedules.