heater core

hi i need some information on how to tell if heater core is bad on my 1996 150 ecoline ford conversion van my husband is disabled so i have to do most all of the repair on our vehicles there is a hot anti freeze smell coming through the vent at times and i have to keep adding water quite often to the radiator while driving it the last time water drained out of radiator i stopped to put water in it and while i was pouring water in the radiator i noticed water coming out of a hose on the right passenger side under the hood just under the windshield someone told me that it is the heater core hose is this true ?does this mean just the core is bad or is it the core and the radiator ? if it is the core do i have to remove the whole dash to replace this? if so please give me some details so i can fix this as soon as possible .ther has not been any water in the floorboard or anti freeze. thank you