Water Heater

[kwired]

Do they make 1Ø, 208 volt HWH's?

Don't most residential units have both a 240 and a 208 rating marked on them? I thought most do.

4500 watt @ 240 is most commonly stocked item and probably lesser cost because of that. You can get a 6000 watt and connect to 208 and still get 4500 out of it but is likely to cost a little more.

 

[kwired]

Just turn up the thermostat on a 240v unit.
Scalding hot setting will still be hot at 208v

thermostat opens on temp, less volts leads to less watts leads to more recovery time - but still opens once same set point is reached.
Higher setpoint will give you more reserve, but with higher scalding risk.

 

[kwired]

I would swap elements before using an auto-transformer. Just my opinion.

No doubt here either. 1 kVA autotransformer maybe cost around $125-150. 6000 W @ 240 WH element maybe $20-40.