Looking for some advice on whether this is a good idea or not. Have a commercial steamer available that is wired for 3 ph 208V, but only have 1ph power available. Until I open up the machine, I don't know if it is wired as attached schematic 1 vs schematic 2.

Schematic 1 appears as though the 3 ph input is getting convereted to single phase anyways so I could just rewire the input section and be on my way with 1ph 208/240V. Schematic 2 appears as though there's a few more differences with non-input wiring and it probably would be more in depth than I would like to rewire. Is my understanding correct?

Alternatively, is there a reason I couldn't run this off of a digital phase converter? Manufacturer recommended against it but wouldn't elaborate on why.

 

Those circuit drawings are quite complex indeed. The arrangement of heating elements is not clear because of all of the other circuitry.

 

So here are questions: since this does not seem to have gained many views What are the rated watts of the two versions??Arethey the same??
Both of the drawings are identified as "single phase", which I find confusing.
The two are really quite different in many aspects, including how the heaters are controlled.

Since there is no three-phase circuit to compare, any comparative evaluation is not possible, in my opinion. You can get guesses that may or not be useful or correct.

 

REWIRING can be dome, but it is not simple.