Stinky Basement Drain with Bell Trap

[vickie-c]

We've lived in our 100-year-old home for about 4 years, and we have a drain in our basement floor that stinks up the whole house every once in a while. I've been doing TONS of research, and I'm fairly certain that we have a bell trap, and I'm also pretty sure that it is NOT sealed correctly. I haven't inspected what's down inside the drain very thoroughly, but my husband says it looks like a short/straight pipe that opens into some sort of chamber or cavity - not sure how big. I don't know if the floor drain goes into the city sewer or into runoff collection/into the ground either. Finally, our washing machine drains into that drain as well. Right now there is a flat rubber cap on the inner drain ring with the washer drain pipe going into it, and a hose clamp around the rubber cap to keep it connected to that inner ring (in the middle of what is supposed to be the bell trap).

Should our washing machine be draining into this type of floor drain, and is there any way to seal the bell-style trap AND have something else draining into it?

Our home was a complete remodel before we bought it, and we had a very thorough inspector that I assumed would have told us NOT to run a washer to that drain (there was existing piping for a washer to run into the drain in the basement when he inspected) or to do something special to it - but maybe not. I don't remember if he told us anything specific about the drain either, we're in the process of locating our original inspection document. We're going to be doing some unrelated work in the basement this weekend, so it would be a great time to take care of the stink issue as well

Thanks in advance!

 

[IFIXH20]

Post some photos of the floor drain / laundry drain setup

 

[uplumb]

When you say every once in awhile, do you mean once a day, once a month? When you smell it, how long has it been since you've run your washer?

Might have a dry tap?