I know you never mentioned bladder tanks.
I have them at my place, in fact there are 3 of them all in the same system. The well driller, when he put in the new well put them all in. I had one in the previous system, and one in the box as a reserve. He quoted the job with a bladder tank, and said that if he hooked them all up, the pump wouldn't turn on as much if I were to only use it for the house.
You DID do a great job with the cup analogy.
That's why I'm waiting on your decision, you understand how this 3-phase on a single phase supply system stuff works MUCH better than I do. I figure that if you think it's good enough for your system, it'll be good enough for mine.
