I just moved into a 1800 square foot house and we don't have enough hot water. It comes out of the shower faucet scalding for 5 seconds and then is lukewarm. It is warm at the kitchen and bathroom faucets. The washing machine has no warm or hot water coming out when set to those settings. I can't give my daughter a bath- what should I do? Help, do I need a new water heater?

It could be the water heater is missing the cold water dip tube. It runs from the inlet at the top to bottom of the tank. As hot water is drawn off the top, cold water flows to the bottom, is heated, and forced to the top by more incoming cold water. It is nothing except a length of plastic tubing with a flange to keep it from dropping clear in. Without it, cold water can flow in and right back out the hot. Shut the water off and remove the inlet. See if there is a tube inside going to the bottom. If not, I don't know if appliance dealers stock them or not. If it is missing, and you can't find one, post back if you need help making one. You can also appeal to the sellers. They are responsible to have things like the hot water heater working at the time of the sale.