LOL! Okay, I'll spend the bucks and do it right ... then fill y'all in.
That's an 8 gauge wire with an 18 gauge fusible link. Not a 30 amp breaker ... but a 30 amp bladed FUSE will not hold up very long to the spikes of an electric fan -- the fan may be 30 amp, but when it kicks on, it may spike as high as 60 amp, and a bladed fuse will break down continually. The 30 amp breaker I originally had was acting strange -- like it was partially grounding out at times, or something like that -- and that's was started me on this rampage.