I have long been a fan of holding-plate refrigeration systems over evaporator systems:
- More efficient.
- When done right, better temperature consistency.
- Can be force-run when there is ample power, say when motoring or a generator is running—can be automated.
- Can be shut down overnight for quiet without the box thawing out or getting too warm—if the plates are big enough and the insulation good enough.
- Don’t cycle on and off every few minutes, which I find irritating.
- With intelligent management a holding plate system reduces required battery bank size.
And no, I’m not talking about engine-driven holding-plate systems, which, based on having owned two, I don’t recommend—hanging a compressor off an engine just about never ends well.
Rather, I like holding-plate systems with a powerful compressor being driven by a big electric motor (1/2 to 3/4 HP) like the Glacier Bay system that gave us great service for nearly 30 years.
The sad thing is that these seem to have pretty much died out.
Probably because holding-plate systems are more expensive, as well as harder to install and maintain than evaporator systems using the ubiquitous Danfoss compressor.