THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 5, 1995 TAG: 9507010128
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: EARNING A LIVING IN VIRGINIA BEACH
SOURCE: BY LORI A. DENNEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 103 lines
Charles ``Charlie'' DeFoore and his wife Christine eat, sleep, and breathe clean air at home and at work.
The couple own and operate Virginia CleanAire Inc., a company that offers indoor air purification systems.
``Our goal in this business is to create awareness for indoor air quality issues,'' said Charlie DeFoore, a retired Navy F-14 pilot. ``We have an environmental solution for a problem that a lot of people don't even know they have.''
The ``problem,'' according to DeFoore, can be anything - cleaning products, new furniture, the heating and cooling system, new wallpaper. Everyday pollutants include chemicals from cleaning products, dust, mold and mildew, bacteria and odors from cigarette smoke and pets.
The only way that people can avoid bad indoor air quality is to have a lot of windows open at all times, said DeFoore. Since that isn't very practical, he said his product reproduces nature's own process for cleaning and taking odors out of the air. It's a box that electrically discharges activated oxygen to create negative ions in the air. The negative ions attract these ``bad'' particles and drop them from the air, he said.
The purification system uses no filters and does not cleanse the air by sucking it in and then purifying it. He said the negative ions are actually emitted from the box to attack the particles in the air.
The machine generates activated oxygen which in turn produces negative ions. Radio waves that are generated travel up to 60 feet in all directions and through walls and ceilings, meaning that the clean air is not dependent on air flow or circulation.
``Basically, we're recreating the thunderstorm effect, which is how outside air is cleaned,'' said DeFoore, 45. ``We're reproducing that natural process indoors.''
He offers three types of systems, all manufactured by Alpine Industries in Minneapolis, Minn.
The systems start at $240 for the Peak portable machine that can be plugged into a vehicle cigarette lighter and covers up to 500 square feet. The $395 Living Air Model 880 covers up to 1,200 feet and the $595 Living Air Model XL-15 covers 2,500 feet.
Commercial systems range from $795 to $995, DeFoore said.
When a customer calls to inquire about the purification system, the DeFoores or one of their sales representatives go to the home and do an in-home air study. They talk about things like smoking, ventilation and even note the cleanliness of the place.
``We like to say that cleaning the air is no substitute for cleaning the house,'' said DeFoore, who lives with his wife in Great Neck.
They offer the customer the use of the machine. Usually, said DeFoore, this is the clincher.
``We don't use any high-pressure sales techniques,'' said Christine DeFoore, who shares the product demonstration responsibilities with her husband. ``We don't have to badger people to buy this.''
Usually , they said, the sale comes after they have removed a machine from a business or residence. Mainly, said Charlie DeFoore, because the effect is often ``so subtle they don't realize what it's done to improve the air until it's gone.''
They have been in business three years. They've gone from working out of their home to renting office space on Virginia Beach Boulevard. They've been in their current location about six months and yes, a purification machine is constantly going in the office.
``They're made to run constantly,'' said Charlie DeFoore, adding that the machines are under warranty for one year but are said to last at least 15 years.
When the couple began the business they were small distributors of Alpine Industries and although they still do a lot of consulting themselves, they've become distributors for several other representatives. They currently distribute the Alpine products to more than 100 representatives in 13 states and one foreign country.
Charlie DeFoore spends the majority of his time training and educating other sales representatives.
Although they make no claims about the product's medical usefulness, they came in contact with the purification system when they were seeking a solution to Christine DeFoore's allergies as well as clean air for their two children - 13-year-old Cara and 7-year-old Matthew.
They had spent between $700 and $900 on an air filtration system that they say did nothing.
A friend introduced them to the Alpine system and Charlie DeFoore, who was getting ready to retire after 21 years in the Navy, became convinced that since the system helped improve the air quality in his own home he would have no problems touting the effectiveness of the product to others.
``It's one of those things where you get caught up in something you really believe in,'' he said. ``It evolved into kind of a crusade for us. We knew there were people out there who need this.'' MEMO: Virginia CleanAire Inc. can be reached at 431-2900.
ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by CHARLIE MEADS
Charles DeFoore and his wife, Christine, bought the Virginia
CleanAire Inc. franchise after purchasing a unit that worked well
for Christine's allergies. The $595 Living Air Model XL-15, above,
covers 2,500 feet.
KEYWORDS: AIR PURIFICATION by CNB