Newbie looking for help pentair pump and generator

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berlinguyinca

Member
May 15, 2025
8
Sacramento, Ca, USA
Good afternoon,

Two years ago we bought a new property with a pool and pump system. And would love to switch it over to salt, by means of diy.

What we got

- intelliflo vrble spd 354605 pump
- some filter
- pool approximate 25k gallon

And I pretty much decided on a rj-60 generator ( I am flexible regarding this) and now wondering how to hook it up power wise.

Ink ow the pump should be able to trigger it, but :

- where does the power come from? I keep seeing things like the load side of the pump, what does this mean?
- How would I wire in the anode?
- do I need anything else?
- I assume the generator is connected after the pump before the filter or on the filter output?

I don't need a lot of automation, it will be just the pump and generator so no intelli touch, easy touch, sun touch or all the other stuff pentair offers.

Sorry I'm really new to this and felt a bit overwhelmed by the millions of posts out there.

My budget is about $2k for this endeavor and I am quite handy. Just new to pools.

Thanks
 
Welcome to the forum.
Your pump is powered on all the time. Its onboard scheduler is used to tell it when to pump.
When you add your SWCG, you will need either a timer for the SWCG power center or a current sensing relay on the pump to control the SWCG.
See SWG How It Works - Further Reading
 
guy,

Or... You can do what a lot of us do, and that is run the pump and the cell 24/7.. If you have no heater you can run at 1200 rpm for less than $20 bucks a month..

You do not need an anode!!! what makes you think you do???

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
Thank you, living in california, energy is rather pricey and way more than 20$ a month. I pay about 30c per kWH and the pump uses 831w a hour. So running it 24h, would be more about ~$7 a day. So running it 24h a day is not an option.

Regarding the anode, I though you are supposed to have it, to protect other metal parts, etc
 
berlinguyinca said:
- intelliflo vrble spd 354605 pump
Click to expand...
This is not a valid model number. There should be a label on the pump basket that list part#, Serial # and manufactured date. Take a pic an post that.
1747363461698.png
berlinguyinca said:
rj-60 generator ( I am flexible regarding this)
Click to expand...
What is the size of your pool in gallons?
berlinguyinca said:
Ink ow the pump should be able to trigger it, but :

- where does the power come from? I keep seeing things like the load side of the pump, what does this mean?
Click to expand...
You need to know what service you have 115v or 230v. Most breakers will be double if 230, single if 115. If we get the model number we can probably tell. Post a picture of the breaker to the pump.
berlinguyinca said:
- How would I wire in the anode?
Click to expand...
You don't need an anode. Forget about it.
berlinguyinca said:
- do I need anything else?
Click to expand...
Maybe, post up the other stuff we asked for.
berlinguyinca said:
- I assume the generator is connected after the pump before the filter or on the filter output?
Click to expand...
SWG should be the LAST thing before returning to the pool.
berlinguyinca said:
Thank you, this kinda sounds like the intellichlor system, would than be best to be running straight of my existing pump and would be most painless to install if I see this right.
Click to expand...
IF your pump can control SWG On/Off, which I doubt, then it doesn't matter brand of SWG.
 

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I don't run my pump 24/7. My time of use peak rate is about 60 cents per kwh. It wouldn't break the bank, but my pool is simply doesn't need it. I use a very simple Wi-Fi relay /switch to control my swg. I have the same pump you do. Works well for me. Wi-Fi isn't for everyone though.
 
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berlinguyinca said:
I plan to run the pump 8h a day max.
Click to expand...
Why? Even at $.3 per KWh, VSP running 1400 RPM, 200W, will consume about $40/month. Filtering is better at slow speed, you add chlorine 24/7 to maintain constant FC with SWG.

RJ-60+ would be a good solution. See the link I provided on how to ensure the SWG doesn't run when the pump is off.
 
Last edited:
PoolStored said:
Why? Even at $.3 per KWh, VSP running 1400 RPM, 200W, will consume about $40/month. Filtering is better at slow speed, you add chlorine 24/7 to maintain constant FC with SWG.

RJ-60+ would be a good solution. See the link I provided on how to ensure the SWG doesn't run when the pump is off.
Click to expand...
I don't like running stuff when I'm not around, so it always runs at night between 10:00 and 6:00
 
The RJ-60+ in your pool will make 5ppm in 8 hours running 100%. This might or might not work. Depends on sun and swimmer load in summer.
It may be that you need to run a bit longer.
Also, running 100% is one of the quickest ways to kill a cell.
 
PoolStored said:
The RJ-60+ in your pool will make 5ppm in 8 hours running 100%. This might or might not work. Depends on sun and swimmer load in summer.
It may be that you need to run a bit longer.
Also, running 100% is one of the quickest ways to kill a cell.
Click to expand...
thanks, let me calculated proper flow rates for my pump and power consumption to find the sweet spot. appreciate the help. But testing this right now, pump is running at 1200RPM's and ~200W. So about 45$ a month. this is actually not bad. Compared to ~65$ a month, if running 8 hours at night at 2500 RPMS and 830W. This is quite a nice saving
 
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