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There is one more thing I should have added.... Efficiency and reliability are obviously not the same. I have no idea of what all to expect with the longevity and reliability of heat pumps but if it is anything the ridiculously steep decline to complete unreliability with refrigerators over the past 10 to 15 years, that obviously needs to be considered as well.

]Efficiency and reliability are obviously not the same. I have no idea of what all to expect with the longevity and reliability of heat pumps but if it is anything the ridiculously steep decline to complete unreliability with refrigerators over the past 10 to 15 years, that obviously needs to be considered as well.]

I suspect what a China Hand called “quality fade” is related to meeting a price point where raw materials costs had skyrocketed, but process improvements for mature products had basically reached their limits. To continue to meet that price point, component specs were degraded to the breaking point. At which point the assembled products started breaking way earlier than prior generations of hardware made with higher spec parts.

Case in point being a low-end 20-year old working Procter Silex toaster oven I discarded for a newer one, and the 3 toaster ovens that have failed at 3 year intervals since. They used to have 90 day warranties and worked until you threw them out 20 years later because you got fed up with the baked in grease stains. Now they warrant them for 1 year, but they die after your extra cost 3 year warranty expires.