On Thu, 05 Jun 2014 14:19:32 GMT, (Scott Lurndal)
wrote:

Ed Pawlowski writes:
On Wed, 4 Jun 2014 14:08:38 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

Discovered today with standard AC check that the house we recently purchased has fake cold air returns. Vents are there (high on walls) but at floor level they are sealed shut with wood. Wondering if this has happened to anyone else and if inspection/old owners should have discovered/disclosed information. Essentially, the second floor of our house has no AC. No issue with first floor/basement.
Thanks

You don't make a lot of sense. You say the vents are high on the
wall, yet blocked at the floor. Return vents are never high on the
wall. I have to wonder if you know what you are looking at or just
doing a poor job of explaining.

Good question. More details from OP would help.

Like the other 3, I have a return vent that is high on the wall, in the
open stairwell (no doors) . It's the only return vent. No separate
heat and AC ducts.

But I should have noticed what you say in the your second sentence,
vents are high, blocked at floor. Different ducts?

_Never_ is pretty absolute. I've seen houses that used the wall
cavity as a return ductwork with a vent high on the wall. The
base of the cavity had a cutout to the basement which was itself
the return "ductwork" for the furnace. Supply vents were in the
floor, usually under the external wall window openings. Built
in the 70's, midwest.

Sounds like someone plugged the opening at the bottom of the
cavity in the OP's case.