NST VA Rating and Power Factor

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Bill Vanyo by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <vanyo-at-echoes-dot-net>

My power supply consists of three 15/60 NST's.  Two are Franceformers,
and are marked 495 VA, and also have "High Power Factor" on the label. 
The other is a Magnatek/Jefferson, marked 900 VA.

Does this mean that I will have little to gain by adding PFC caps to the
supply?

When adding PFC caps, is there any point in placing them on each NST? 
Since they're in parallel, I can just put the PFC caps in one place,
hooked in parallel, no?

Also, regarding the problem of tripping the house breaker (It was on a
15amp breaker, but there is a 20amp available that I'll try next time):
I've got a 240 volt line in my garage (20 amp breaker).  If I use my
variac to step this down to 120 volts, will I be able to draw more
amperage?  The variac is 240 volt 50 amp, and has multiple terminals,
and I think there's a way to use it as a stepdown (other than just
leaving the dial at 50%), though I'm not sure how to do this (asking in
another post).

	Thanks,
	Bill Vanyo