We had an electrician rewire most of our house this past spring during some renovations but that did not include our utility room due to budget constraints.
So now I am working my way around the utility room correcting prior owners wiring hack jobs. I am about to correct the forced air oil burner furnace wiring. Instead of the furnace being on its own dedicated 15 amp circuit (the sticker inside the furnace says it pulls 8.6 amps), it is connected into a 15 amp circuit that has outlets and lighting on it. So I am putting the furnace on its own 15 amp circuit.
I have no trouble running new 14-2 wire and installing a new 15 amp breaker, plenty of room in the new service panel to do this. But between the furnace and where it joins the other circuit, about 3 feet from the furnace, there is a small metal fuse box that contains a 30 amp round fuse and a disconnect switch that kills power to the furnace. I looked at the wiring in this fuse box and it is simply spliced in the 14-2 wire. I don't understand the purpose of this 30 amp fuse being on a 15 amp circuit. Is it just a matter of the 30 amp fuse being leftover from when the house was originally built in the 1950's?
What I want to do is remove this small fuse box with 30 amp fuse and also the disconnect. The breaker panel is roughly 15 feet from the furnace so its no big deal to flip the breaker off when doing any work or maintenance on the furnace. Then just do a run from the furnace directly to the new 15 amp breaker.
Is there any reason I am missing this would still be needed and cannot be removed?