Okay, well moving on this thread without you then.
Generally my understanding is that code defers to a equipment manufacturer for a lot of things. So if a manufacturer says "xyz" I take that to hold a lot more water than what an electrician thinks.
I've done some digging, and it is clearly a widely held belief among sparkies that if the word "fuse" is present then it becomes a requirement, but I am yet to find anything in actual hvacr electrical code that agrees with it. I'd be very interested to find out, from a purely academic perspective.
I actually thought--perhaps erroneously-- that spec for spec, fuses and breakers are essentially treated the same under the electrical code in general. After all, other than response curve, they basically serve the same purpose.