I've been looking into this very issue tonight. I was planning on posting this question here eventually but my web searches brought me here anyways. I'm going to take you through my analysis of the ordinances of my particular borough because it may help you to analyze your own municipality's ordinances. I'll follow up with my own experiences and observations.
This can be confusing stuff, which is why people need attorneys. I am an attorney, but I'm not your attorney, and nothing that I'm writing here is meant to be legal advice. However if your municipality is anything like mine, it's an under-funded racket that treats you like an inconvenience when it isn't trying to bully you like you're in middle school. I think the laws work best when everyone knows their meaning, and the economy works best when we can spend our lunch money as we see fit. Hopefully my discussion below will inspire you to look into your own municipality's ordinances.
Local Ordinances:
I live in Crafton Borough, a suburb of Pittsburgh. My borough's ordinances just say that the "Borough hereby elects to administer and enforce the provisions of the Pennsylvania Construction Code Act, 35 P.S. § 7210.101, as amended." Pennsylvania's Act adopts the Uniform Construction Code [UCC]. See
http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt?open=514&objID=552999&mode=2#104.
The state law gives municipalities the power to regulate wood stove installation, but municipalities cannot do so unless they pass an ordinance. My municipality has no such ordinance. The powers of the Fire Chief include "The Fire Chief shall report to the Borough Council any property, building, condition or practice which is not in accordance with the ordinary provisions for fire prevention or protection," however this would not apply to an installation that meets manufacturer's standards, and no ordinance requires that the Fire Department inspect stove installations. The Borough Ordinances contain a section with Modifications to Standards for the UCC but again, nothing about wood stoves.
The borough building code ordinances say nothing about requiring a building permit for a wood stove. The zoning ordinances regulate the emissions of "malodorous gas or matter" and the color and shade of smoke emissions, but nothing about stoves.
Other PA municipalities require a permit to install a wood stove but these ordinances do not cite to any PA statute such as the one adopting the Uniform Construction Code. For example, see Somerset Borough's code:
http://www.somersetborough.com/inspections/wburner.htm.
Pennsylvania Statute:
The section of PA's Act governing how the Act applies states that as a general rule "This act shall apply to the construction, alteration, repair and occupancy of all buildings in this Commonwealth," then lists numerous exclusions including:
"alterations to residential buildings which do not make structural changes or changes to means of egress, except as might be required by ordinances in effect pursuant to section 303(b)(1) or adopted pursuant to section 503. For purposes of this paragraph, a structural change does not include a minor framing change needed to replace existing windows or doors". Section 303(b)(1) pertains to municipal codes that exceed the requirements of the UCC; Section 503 pertains to amendments to the UCC.
My particular installation requires making a 6 inch hole in a chimney to connect to a flue liner. At most, this is akin to a minor framing change needed to replace a door. The chimney already exists and already has a flue. I do not interpret this to require a building permit for a wood stove installation. Conditions of your own installation may vary.