continuity between the two poles on power cord of my fridge
Presumably the inside of the refrigerator has warmed enough that the thermostat is calling for cooling.  Therefore, the motor is trying to start. That means it is attempting to pull &quot;Locked Rotor Amperage&quot; from the power supply, which is considerable. So Barry's answer applies; just change &quot;transformer&quot; to &quot;motor&quot; (since they are quite similar anyway).