This Elvis heats his shop and recycles oil at the same time
Elvis Gelvezon runs Car Service Tech, an independent shop just east of Cummins Northwest in Renton, WA. Gelvezon works on both domestic and foreign cars with the help of two employees. His 2,000 square foot shop has four bays.
Gelvezon works long, hard hours from 8 a.m. until 11 p.m. Like many small shop owners, he recycles motor oil, not only because it is the right thing to do, but it saves money for himself as well as his customers.
He uses a Shenandoah Horizon oil burner to recycle motor oil, as well as to heat his shop. He started out with a Horizon 200, the "200" denoting the fact that it puts out 200 Btu. of heat. Prior to this, he had a Horizon 120, which put out just 120 Btu.
Gelvezon estimate that he saves $500 to $700 a month, "probably 70 percent of what gas heat would cost," on his heating bill, especially during winter.
Originally, Gelvezon used another company's oil recycling burner. He quit using that machine, however since its manufacturer was in Wisconsin. That meant not only calling Wisconsin for help when the machine needed maintenance, but also shipping it back to that state, adding that, "Meanwhile, it's winter and cold. You want to keep people productive."
In contrast, since Shenandoah has a branch office close to Gelvezon's shop, "I call Howard (Levens, local rep for Shenandoah) and a couple hours later, someone is here."
Gelvezon has worked at Ford, Toyota and Mitsubishi dealerships. In 1990, he attended Renton Technical College on behalf of the Ford Asset Program and completed a program dealing with automotive repair. Shortly thereafter, he started his own business, a mobile repair service, which he operated for ten years. He quit that, in part because some people didn't want to pay the service charge.
He decided to simply operate out of a shop he'd run in conjunction with his mobile repair business. That shop had been where vehicles needing substantial repair work were towed.
As more work came his way, he found he needed more room. So Gelvezon moved into his present location four months ago. He bought a larger oil burner / recycler because of that move.
And if you're wondering how he got his first name, it was because of the Peace Corps volunteers his family in the Philippines were housing, shortly before he was born. Those same volunteers were listening to the radio one night when a Presley song came on the radio. His pregnant mother said, "If he's a boy, we'll name him Elvis." Gelvezon carries the name proudly.
