Can Crawl Space Vents Help the Smell Escape? 

Not really. Crawl space vents don’t actually help as much as people might think. In fact, these open vents actually let humid outside air into the crawl space which ends up causing the musty smells in the first place. A better option is to close the crawl space vents with vent covers. That way, humid air cannot penetrate your crawl space and cause water damage or musty smells to arise.