Is Liner Mandatory for Wood Stove in Fireplace?

[danham]

My office happens to be on that cat walk above the fireplace, so I'm good with heat going up, its where I am 90% of the time!! Plus the GFA cold air returns are actually hidden behind the trim at the bottom of the ceiling line, so if I leave the blower to the furnace on, it will suck the hot air in, and blow it out the registers in the floor. ..

Others with more expertise have answered your questions, but this one jumped out at me. Search the forum and you will find lots of warning that using the HVAC blower to move stove heat around is not going to work and in some cases can be dangerous. I really wanted this trick to work at my house. It doesn't.

-dan (no longer a greasmnky, but still glad I got my NIASE certification back when)

 

[stoveliker]

My expectation is that the heat up there will likely be unbearable for a stove that runs such that downstairs is nice, possibly already with a fan, but surely without a ceiling fan.

HVAC blower distribution can work - but given the poor insulation and air sealing of ducts, it's very often minimally effective. In particular if the ducts run in space that's not conditioned (e.g. unconditioned attic space). The latter may not be the case here (see vaulted ceilings).
I'm not sure how this can be dangerous - other than if the return (that sucks air) of the HVAC system is too close to the stove (code says it can't be within 10 ft ). One does not want to suck air from near the stove because one does not want to compete with the draft, leading to CO being sucked from the stove into the room.

 

[danham]

That's what I was referring to -- a cold air return that can grab CO if it is too close to the stove or otherwise located where it can end up sucking CO into the system.

-dan

...I'm not sure how this can be dangerous - other than if the return (that sucks air) of the HVAC system is too close to the stove (code says it can't be within 10 ft ). One does not want to suck air from near the stove because one does not want to compete with the draft, leading to CO being sucked from the stove into the room.