You're the victim of cost optimization. A old climate optimized heat pump will have logic to run the pump in reverse to melt the accumulated ice. This happens w

You're the victim of cost optimization. A old climate optimized heat pump will have logic to run the pump in reverse to melt the accumulated ice. This happens without you noticing but it let's the pump keep going and keeps the net efficiency above a coefficient of 1. If anything America is a victem of HVAC "specialists" who use their skills to install the bare minimum systems. Over in Japan everyone just buys a featurefull mini split and pokes a hole in the way and plugs it in. The net effect is Japan has a competitive market for featureful yet cheap minisplits. While Americians are forced to pay more for less.