My heat sucks

Just because your hoses are hot doesn't mean the water pump is working 100 %. Have you removed the inlet hose to the heater core with the engine running? .. Your hoses can still be hot with half the flow ...

When both hoses are hot you should be getting plenty of flow. Temperature drop across a heat exchanger for both sides tells the story. Those hoses on an engine at normal temp should be so hot you cannot put your hand on 'em for long. If both hoses are substantially hotter than the air output, then it's not water flow as a problem.