cold air return in basement

[Martin Karl]

Hello all,
My inspection today had a full basement single story house. All upstairs rooms had heat/cool registers. the only cold air return, was at the furnace. The pipe is wide open at the top and next to the flue. Is this acceptable?

[Bob Elliott]

That is a bad location.

It really should not be there.

Potential to pull exhaust products out of the draft hoods.

Recommend it be examined by an HVAC tech.

[James E. Braun, CMI]

There is no way the main level vents are flowing right without at least one return vent on the main level. I imagine the basement is pretty cool during the summer.