On Sunday, January 12, 2020 at 6:43:33 PM UTC-5, Tom Del Rosso wrote:
I expect a large fridge to draw around 5 amps, but my clamp transformer
(on one wire of a broken-out extension cord of course) and Fluke
together say 830ma when the thing is running. Does that seem wrong? It
measures the toaster oven at 9.1A and the fridge light at 300ma.


That sounds about right. A refrigerator maintains a low temperature, but takes a long time to pull the contents down from room temperature. The compressor is tiny, inside the housing It is spring mounted to reduce the noise, and to surround the motor with refrigerant. If it drew 9.1A, that would be over a Kilowatt that would need to be dissipated, along with the interior heat.