how does a floor drain in a basement work?

Question

my house is 65 years old and in the foor drain i can see a hole with a float in it. i can see a tile drain off to the side in the same drain. it looks like water(when it rains) comes from the side drain into the hole with float in it, but i can't really tell. i guess the hole with the float is the sump, but again i don't know.

Answer 1

sounds to me like a sump, with a pump, the float triggers the pump, if it is not, you have some sort of problem with the pump.