My laundry tub attached to the faucet is a tube which leads down to a drain in the basement floor. We have hot water constantly dripping into this tube then to the drain. Why is that tube there. We are just wasting hot water.
Thanks

I suspect that what you have there is a TRAP PRIMER of sorts. Here, your floor drain needs to remain "wetted" at all times to keep it from drying out which would allow sewer gasses to enter your home. A picture would help to confirm this... ;)

They also make a "waterless" trap primer... perhaps that would be more to your liking! Check it out @ Home: SureSeal Waterless Floor Drain Trap Sealer

Back to you...

Mark

If it is a trap primer, switch the supply to the cold water side. An alternative, although not necessarily code, would be to turn the water off and make sure to keep water in the trap. A photo would help.