Our Methodology

I’ve done the research so you don’t have to. Here’s how, and what that’s worth.

The Open Current exists because of a gap I kept hitting. Search for real information on off-grid power, water, wastewater or land and you find retailer product pages, manufacturer marketing, and scattered forum threads. Plenty of sites cover solar. A few cover wells. Almost nobody covers how the whole thing fits together, which is a problem, because off grid these systems are not separate.

Your septic system decides whether you need more battery. Your fridge decides how big your array is. Your perc test decides both. That interaction is where the expensive surprises live, and it’s most of what I write about.

What I actually do. I work from manufacturer datasheets and spec sheets, utility consumption data, published contractor pricing, code requirements, and what people report in forums and owner communities when something goes wrong. Then I lay out the trade-offs and the ranges, so you can decide what fits your situation.

What I don’t do. I don’t test products. I’ve never pulled a well pump or installed a drain field, and I’m not going to pretend otherwise. Plenty of sites in this space write “our team spent three months testing” above an affiliate link. That isn’t what this is.

Ranges, not single numbers. Costs here are given as ranges, usually wide ones. Your county, your soil, your access and your local contractor move these figures more than anything I could tell you. Anyone showing you one confident number is guessing harder than the data supports.

On money. There are no affiliate links on this site at the moment. If that changes they’ll be disclosed, and the recommendation won’t change because of them. Several guides here already argue against buying the thing the article is about, because sometimes that’s the right answer.

Got a correction, a real number from your own build, or a system you want me to dig into? Email me at scot@theopencurrent.com.