The only problem I see is the electronicals being mounted to something that will melt them to goo without a fan.
Here's a shot of the dipper pot innards. Zip ties and hot glue.
The temperature probe connects to the PID with ring terminals, which means the leads can be extended. Same with the heating element wires provided some high-temp braided wire is used to extend them. The PID head and SSR can be put somewhere else, like in another steel box two feet away from the hot furnace. I don't think you'd need the cooling fan at all but it could be transferred too along with its power supply to the new control box. The back half of the pot housing could be cut off and thrown away and the back feet remounted to save space (in the case of the dipper pot like mine).