[beamgirl]

When I saw futureproofness I thought you were going to talk about repairability. Thats probably my biggest concern. My heating system is largely made out of commodity parts. Aquastats and zone control boxes form the control system, copper pipes soldered on, pex crimped on. All parts you can buy at any hardware store in the country, and all interchangeable. As long as the actual tank and fire tubes in my boilers are intact, I can keep them running as long as there is oxygen. While I know the basics of refrigeration, I don't actually know how interchangeable any of the internals are, but I kinda expect them to be less interchangeable than my old boilers.

[rfb]

I am with you.

I live on a small remote island. Over the past number of years there has been a boom in heat-pumps here due to government subsidies. A local company appeared and was happy to fill the demand for new units. Eventually the new installs dried up and the company disappeared.

This winter there has been a number of desperate pleas on facebook for people seeking repairs on their heat pumps and split units. Unfortunately, the nearest company who can service these units is a half day ferry away.

[beamgirl]

Once more start getting thrown out I'll have to pick a couple of trashed ones up and see how hackable they are. I wouldn't be surprised if a good amount of the parts besides the control board ended up being interchangeable just due to sourcing parts from the same suppliers. I'll feel a little more confident in them after that.