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?

Furnace disco, leave it if possible, also good for fast shut off if there is an emergency with teh furnace. Some places require them as code. I like them because I can pull the fuse out and make sure some dork doesn't power it up when it's being worked on or if on a parts run.

PS, someone installed the incorrect fuse sometime in the past, 15 amp is usually the correct rating for almost all standard home furnaces.

Thank you.  I can certainly leave it and will pick up a 15 amp fuse next time I'm out to replace the 30.  Thanks again, much appreciated.

The fuse box and disconnect are still in place but with the correct 15 amp fuse.  And now the furnace is on its own cicuit.  Thank you again for your help.

OMG it's a miracle! A homeowner successfully rewired something without burning down his house!

Some of the "Hire an electricain RIGHT MEOW!" guys on here would make that seem impossible.

Glad you were able to do it safely and correctly.

A lot of people get scared having to work in a panel.
Main panels especially.
A decent number of them cannot be completely shut down without pulling the electric meter.

There are a huge number of main panels with no disconnect between them and the meter.
Even with the main breaker off the input side of the main is hot.

It puts a premium on being careful and observant of the ends of the wires inside the panel board when you are adding a new circuit.


ETA:

At least some places still require those large red switch-plates for the cutoff switch.