You probably have a bad thermostat.
When a head gasket blows, it most often causes a lose of coolant either in the exhaust or the oil. When the coolant drops, there is not enough to circulate through the heater core. The engine may over heat but no heat will come out of the heater because there is no coolant in it.
It usually drops and when u drop a glass it smashes and when a bomb drops it explodes or it has a timer on it and when it is finished "BAM!'' your dead.
sounds like the alternator is going bad.
ripples
you stand straight with your hands beside you bodies until the umpire blows their whistle and drops the ball.
Check to see if the coolant level is low. If you have a leak in the system and the level drops low enough your heater can't do it's thing.
Low coolant, check when engine is cold.
You could very well have a blown head gasket. I would advise getting it to your dealer and have it checked asap.
A typical diesel engine only burns a small amount of fuel when idling (think 1 gallon an hour). BY leaving the bus idling the driver is avoiding any issues associated with having the bus not restart if they shut it off (Dead Batteries, Gelled Fuel). This is especially true in colder climates when the temperature drops.
Typically The ref blows a whistle, then drops the puck shortly after.
The only power used by a gas water heater is the small current generated by the thermocouple that keeps the gas valve open. It comes on mechanically when the water temperature drops. You don't need house current.
If your heater core is LEAKING engine coolant so that your engine coolant level drops too low or the engine coolant is lost completely and causes your engine to overheat then your engine can be damaged beside the mess the leaking coolant makes inside your vehicle ( you might be able to just temporarily bypass the heater core so that no engine coolant is flowing through the heater core )