Mike Hartigan wrote:
I recently bought a small 7.2 cu ft chest freezer. According to the
documentation, it uses 1.6 amps at 120VAC, so it's not exactly a pig
(the energy sticker says $23/yr). I'm confused by the fact that the
instructions state that it requires a dedicated circuit. What is the
reason for that?

Because of the starting current it needs. That's probably also stated in
the documents and is probably in the order of 12 amps or thereabouts. It's
also never advisable to have anything food related sharing a ckt with
anything else.