"Toller" writes:

I have have tried it maybe 3 times on commerical power and it has never held
at 13a like 1 & 3.
So the question is:
Does the generator somehow cause it to sometimes take longer to start up, or
is that a refrigerator issue that I just never happened to see before. I
don't know enough about refrigerators to know.

The induction motor in the refrigerator will take longer to start if the
voltage is low.

But, as I understand it, inverter generators hold the 120v; when they can't
do it, they trip out. So, they only give 120v or 0v, never low voltage.

That's probably true over a long time, but not necessarily true for
short periods. If you overload the generator, the voltage almost
certainly *will* drop somewhat. This may cause the generator to trip in
a short period (and it did on a couple of your tests), but if the
refrigerator comes up near operating speed before that the overload
will be gone, the voltage will recover, and the generator will decide
not to trip after all.

To be sure of what's going on, monitor the generator output waveform
with an oscilloscope. Then you'll know. A meter may not respond fast
enough to tell you anything about a transient voltage drop.

Dave