Electrical service upgrade

I do not see why it would be problem to run wire at this time. I will check with my electrician on Tuesday to confirm

Thank you Primer. Have a lovely holiday weekend.

either you have patience of saint or alot of dinero.

I hear you, alas, neither really. To be sure, the unit has its charms----lack of appropriate power supply is not one of them. Even if it "can" be done, I'm wondering if the Board will allow this type of alteration ahead of the actual upgrade. Content enough to wait if I know that there is an end date to my life by candle light but I can imagine "slippage" of their grand plans to update if the economy doesn't perk up.

Hate to say this but IMHO if they haven't done it by now, in this age of a/c, heavy lighting, computers, etc. etc. they're never going to do it. If the current owners have lived without upgrade for this long (and they're the ones on the coop board) they probably resent the new high paying owners who want upgrades that cost money.

You can certainly put the wire in the walls, or perhaps just conduit for now (defers some of your cost to mitigate your risk that the building upgrade never happens). You may be stopped short of putting in the circuit breakers and receptacles for large individual appliances, but as long as you have a 60A main breaker protecting the building's feeder, I don't think they should care exactly what you have attached to it, as long as it's reasonably rational.

Also, consider how to re-engineer the loads to use more-efficient equipment. You might find that converting to all-LED lighting, and a highly-efficient central AC system, would shave enough load to keep things under 60A (about 6000W simultaneous load), and perhaps be less expensive than just installing more and larger wiring. You can also consider a controls-based approach -- identify some 'interruptible' loads and automatically shut those off (or defer them, e.g. dishwasher or laundry) if you need the capacity for more important loads.

Agreed. I can easily see how this could be an issue among shareholders. To further complicate matters, it seems that some current owners had been able to upgrade service as there was, at one point, "excess" power. Now you have both other units, who for whatever reason did not "upgrade" when there was the opportunity, as well as potential buyers looking to add power who are, effectively, locked-out until a building-wide service improvement is in place ( if ever?). It seems that there could be a battle between the "haves" and the "have nots". I understand, of course, that it's difficult to see the value of an upgrade to those who already receive adequate power.

utown_joe - Great information and something to consider. The "controls-based approach" is an interesting thought. Thank you.