Typical of many older homes, two of our listners have large metal grates in the floor of the basement, covering a drain collection box. This box tends to stay wet, grow strange things and smell bad. That was acceptable when the basement was no more than a storage space, but when it is converted into a bedroom, it becomes a problem.
We still need the drain, but it can be very expensive to dig it all up and put in a modern trap. A product was developed in Winnipeg called the "Dranjer" to protect basement floor drains from Radon Gas entry from the soil below, even when a drain was dry. With a bit of DIY work, this same "dry elbow" should solve this problem. Steven in Montreal glued a frame on the inside of his pit, glued a piece of plexi glass to the frame and inserted the Dranjer in the hole and glued it down, all air tight. Then the metal grill was put back to protect everything. The float ball in the Dranjer blocks smells from coming back up this drain, but lets water through.
And Steven reports that it works wonderfully, he even forgot about sending me pictures for a while because he forgot about the drain. We have another one being tested in Windsor but it looks like we are on the right track.
Follow this link to the "Dranjer" web site.