Our '89 GTV with the 8.2 DD doesn't put out much heat up front, even with the water heater route turned off. The rear radiator has two electric fans on the back side and one mechanical fan on the engine side. The dash temp gage reads about 180 operating temp and the trans gage seems to follow temp of engine even tho it has its own fan.
Would it be advantageous to insulate the hose going to the front from the engine? The return hose not necessary to insulate.
I have never heard of insulating the heater hose. I'm sure it could be done. I would guess it would take a lot of work.
You always want to make sure there's nothing else wrong with your current system. I would suggest verifying the heater valve (located at near the dash heater core) is fully open and there are no kinks or pinches in the heater hose. I suppose the heater core could be blocked with scale. People often rod, re-core or replace the engine radiator but seldom consider if the heater core needs replacement unless it leaks. Hate to see you go to all the trouble of insulating the hose only to find it does no good due to some other component limiting the flow. I would be inclined to pull the hoses off the heater core and view the tube insides.
My coach has an OEM heater hose pump that I replaced in '06: http://commerce1.cera.net/tacbusparts/sections/catalog/catalog.asp?cat_id=1531 (http://commerce1.cera.net/tacbusparts/sections/catalog/catalog.asp?cat_id=1531)
Some coaches have the pump and others don't. I suspect this might be because some engine designs have a stronger water pump than others. Length of coach comes into play too but I've seen other 40' coaches (with a Cummins) that don't have a pump. This would be a possible solution if you think there is an OEM design weakness.
Not readily accessible to insulate if memory serves me. A boost pump might help or fail the old hose. The mixing valve in the front might be an issue..
In our 91GV, the dash heat is slow to respond to any attempts to change the heat level. I believe that for us a booster pump would be the proper solution. In your coach, are you seeing a slow response or a "no" response?? Have a great day ---- Fritz
My 88 had 2 stanless plugs in the lines that prevented any flow to heater, GA coach always titled there.
2 quick couplers heat flowed when we were up north, then in summer selecter valve didn't work well so had to put a shut off cause still got heat through the exchanger. ^.^d
Now the U280, seems ok had heat and truned off valve at water heater.