My basement floor drain is backed up and there is an awful sewer smell. I've done some research on this forum and it appears the drain needs to be snaked. Now, should I buy a manual snake from the local hardware store or should I rent the electric version? I'm leaning toward buying the manual snake since I'll have it in case this type of thing happens again. Thoughts? Also, if I were to buy a snake what size/length would you recommend? When I took off the drain cover there was a 1 1/2" diameter pipe with a cap on it that was attached to the inside of the drain. Is this the pipe I should snake or should I try to go through the trap? I also noticed that some recommendations were to snake the exhaust line from the roof of the house. I don't understand why this is necessary for clearing a floor drain?? Any help will be greatly appreciated!

A 3/8 inch cable should be large enough to clear your drain line. Since its's a floor drain backup there's no vent to come down so you'll hafta snake through the trap. Good luck, Tom