Hello

There is a discontinued thermostat on the wall of my house that was built in the 1970's. When painting the wall, I proceeded to remove the thermostat because of it does not serve a purpose. To confirm that this could be done safely, I followed the wire in the basement to a strange relay box on top of the fuse box. This relay box seems to be mounted to and wired into the main electrical circuit breaker box. The wire that goes from the thermostat to the [what looks to be] relay box, resembles a common oil burner wire, but only contains two wires; a white and red. I just thought this was the former location of the oil burner thermostat. But now it looks as if there was a completely different system once in place. Does anyone know what this is?

Sorry not without seeing it or knowing much more about what the box is and how it is connected to the furnace.

Its not connected to the current furnace. Im trying to figure out what purpose this serves or once served. It looks as though its power supply for an old electric thermostat, such as one with a clock or something, but this thermostat is an old simple mercury one and does not require power.

Probably just the old stat. Not to worry if it goes no where. We used to find old stats all the time on remodel and new installs. Take it off and patch over the holes. Then paint.