Vents send all sorts of odors out.

I want air passage. I want vents.

In an office, somebody burns popcorn at least once a month. With no vents, that smell will stay.

Without vents (or open windows), you wouldn’t get sufficient fresh air in, either. I think.

I would think it rather difficult to live in any building not vented in some regard!

-Do you remeber an OP here about the overwhelmiong smell from the garbage in the garage and what to do about it?
-As well have you ever heard of a law suit involving the smell of cigarettes blah blah?

You have to replace some of the air on a regular basis so the live critters (including people) in the building can breathe. Some sealed skyscrapers suffered from ‘sick building’ syndrome until they figured it out and installed outside air intakes – folks had all sorts of mostly-mild respiratory problems.

@flo That’s where ventilators come in. Drive the smell out.

The law suit involved cigarette smoke going from one person’s dwelling into another person’s dwelling through the vents. The garbage smell from the garage went into the OPer here through the vent.

But without ventilation, how would fresh air get in? Smells can be a problem, yes, but not having fresh air is an even bigger problem.

….so, to continue, the vents don’t seem to be performing the intended job, which is taking the unclean odorous air from inside the dwellings and placing them in the outdoors.

By the way how about opening the window (just a crack even) to circulate the air? Isn’t that what everyone did before vents?

Among other incidents, the python that killed 2 boys another reason for no vents for me. http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/06/world/americas/canada-snake-deaths/index.html

Look, it’s a simple matter of air pressure. If there’s more pressure outside, air comes in. If there’s more pressure on your side of the vent, the air goes out. If you’re getting bad smells, just increase the house’s pressure via fans, that sort of thing.

That shouldn’t be necessary though.
How about the snakes et al?

@flo It’s perfectly necessary. Your HVAC has a blower in it for precisely that reason, otherwise the air, she don’t move.

I have never had a problem with snakes in my ducts. I’ve heard of people getting raccoons in there, for which they had to call animal control. If you’re worried, get a dog. Their ears are sharper and they’re jumpy about unannounced intruders. Or ask around to see if anyone has 100-lb. snakes. And/or get a shotgun, and justify it to your friends as a “snake-defense weapon.”
Really, it seems like the snake, or the owner, is the actual problem here.