CCR Rebreather Diving

CCR diving and Rebreather Diving courses have made a huge leap in the last few years and Blue Label Diving is at the forefront of all the developments from Agencies and manufactures.

Since 2009, Blue label diving has started to focus more on CCR Rebreathers for exploration as opposed to open-circuit. Where in early years, cave exploration or deep wrecks were limited by the lack of gas carried, rebreathers offered a solution. Besides saving lots of gas, the decompression profiles carried out by the divers now, are smoother, uninterrupted by different gas switches, while maintaining the ideal oxygen partial pressure. Divers feel less tired after deep dives and the room to play in case things go wrong, has become much bigger.


No Bubble Diving

Rebreather diving is underwater diving using a diving unit that circulates the air already used by the diver, with a Cat Litter like substance, after replacing oxygen used by the diver and removing the carbon dioxide metabolic product.

Rebreather diving is a No-Bubble diving unlike the Open Circuit Diving where the exhaled breath comes out via the divers breathing apparatus, the regulator. Rebreather diving is used by recreational, military and scientific divers where it has advantages over open-circuit scuba, and surface supply of breathing gas is impracticable. Rebreathers are generally used for scuba applications, but are also occasionally used for bailout systems for surface supplied diving. A bit more about rebreathers.

However, most demand for rebreathers goes probably to the cave diver, wreck diver, underwater videographer or underwater photographer. No longer interrupted by bubbles and the sound of a regulator, marine life seems to come closer and sometimes interested in the quiet creature with the lump on its back. Photographers can spent hours trying to find a specific species without having to worry about decompression obligations. The advantages are endless.

Each of the rebreather levels in our curriculum can be taught either as diver level or as Instructor level. Our own in-house Instructor Trainers for TDI, SSI, RAID, PADI are Ben Reymenants and Claus Rasmussen, two of the most highly recommended Instructors in Thailand.


The Rebreathers

We specialise in the following rebreather training for recreational (PADI) and technical diving (SSI | RAID | TDI): JJ-CCR, Poseidon 7, Inspiration, Evolution, Triton, Megalodon and the Pathfinder. Our Closed Circuit Rebreather Diving courses are available in Thailand.

Edward Chin CCR wreck course and ccr cave course review

Rebreather courses font’s work the same as the technical diving courses. Each agency has the following prerequisites: To be able to go up to the next level, which means deeper and more deco, You will first need to get hours up on your specific unit. 50 Hours between each level. This is so the diver really gets to know the specific rebreather. With a technical diving course you can go from 0 to hero in one go. 

The first levels can be TDI CCR Air Diluent and TDI CCR Air Diluent Decompression diver. This means you can dive to 40 meters with limited decompression. The total amount of days 5-6 and min of 10 dives/hours.


Rebreather Cross Overs

For cross overs to other units: If you are, for example a JJ CCR mixed gas diver and you just bought a Megalodon, its not possible to do a X-over to the same level as you are on the JJ. The Xover would be to Air Dil Deco level. You will then need to add one extra day to the crossover for skills mixed gas diver and after this a proof of that you did 50 hours on the Megalodon to be able to get the Mixed gas diver level course on the Megalodon. With the proof of the 50 dives Blue Label can certify you online. No need to coe back to the shop. 


Oxygen Rebreathers: 

Triton CCR Spider cave
Triton CCR at restriction in Spider cave

This is the earliest type of rebreather and was commonly used by navies and for mining rescue from the early twentieth century. Oxygen rebreathers can be remarkably simple designs, and they were invented before open-circuit scuba. They only supply oxygen, so there is no requirement to control the gas mixture other than removing the carbon dioxide. The maximum depth with O2 rebreathers is 9 meters 30 feet.


SCR – Semi Closed Rebreathers:

These are generally used for underwater diving, as they are bulkier and heavier than closed circuit oxygen rebreathers. Military and recreational divers use these because they give better underwater duration than open-circuit, have a deeper maximum operating depth than oxygen rebreathers and can be fairly simple and cheap. They do not rely on electronics for control of gas composition, but may use electronic monitoring for improved safety and more efficient decompression. Semi-closed circuit equipment generally supplies one breathing gas such as air, nitrox or trimix at a time. The gas injects into the loop at a constant rate to replenish oxygen consumed from the loop by the diver. Excess gas must be constantly vented from the loop in small volumes to make space for fresh, oxygen-rich gas. As the oxygen in the vented gas cannot be separated from the inert gas, semi-closed circuit is wasteful of oxygen.


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CCR Rebreather Diving – caves

What is PPO2:

A major function of the Closed Circuit Rebreather is to control the oxygen partial pressure, PPO2, in the loop and to warn the diver if it becomes dangerously low or high. When the concentration of oxygen is too low it results in Hypoxia leading to unconsciousness and ultimately death. When the concentration of oxygen is too high it results in Hyperoxia, leading to oxygen toxicity, a condition causing convulsions which can make the diver lose the mouthpiece when they occur underwater, and can lead to drowning. The monitoring system in the Rebreathers Computer (Head) uses oxygen sensitive cells to measure the PPO2 in the loop. The PPO2 in the loop can generally be controlled within reasonable tolerance of a fixed value. This  PPO2 set point is chosen to give an acceptable risk of both long-term and acute oxygen toxicity, while minimising the decompression requirements for the planned dive profile. If you want to learn more about the history or details about rebreathers please visit WIKIPEDIA which has brilliant and extended info about these units.


Rebreather Course Agencies:

Blue Label Diving Instructors and IT’s teach CCR Rebreather course available under TDI, SSI. RAID and PADI.

With more than 10 years of experience, Blue Label Diving is your prime choice for your rebreather training and expeditions.

For the certified rebreather diver, we can offer: sofnolime, spherasorb, 200bar oxygen fills, 200bar Trimix fills 2 and 3 liter CCR tanks and organised trips to wrecks, caves or on liveaboards.