I searched and nothing came up on a previous topic so here it goes.

Had some reduced flow in kitchen sink we noticed and then got an error message on the washing machine, it wouldn't fill during the rinse cycle. Searched the code and said low water pressure so it would stop the cycle. Then a toilet stopped filling normally, but extremely slowly. I pulled out the washing machine and checked both hot and cold and put them in a bucket. Hot water had plenty of pressure, cold water was very low pressure.

At this point, I have technical capability to do it, but the physical capability is becoming an issue laying over a toilet, working left handed and turning fixtures 1/64th of a turn 128 times just to make progress. For sanity's sake and marriage harmony I called a plumber since now a second toilet slowed and two bathroom sinks seemed to have slightly reduced flow. Figured some scale broke loose and is clogging up some valves and now we are talking a number of hours of contortion and trips for replacement parts.

Already ordered a new spray assembly for kitchen sink and when I took off the washing machine lines in prep for the plumbers showing up, I tried one more time for purging the lines and hot blew like crazy and cold sputtered and then blew out with full flow. I noticed a yellow color in the bucket but didn't concern myself with it since I was going to get other things ready and was at least happy with some success.

Plumber arrives, we walk through the issues, he shines his flashlight in the toilet tanks. Then he asks if I saw any color in the bucket of water from the washing machine. I say yes, we go look, and he sticks his hand in and says "uh oh". Resin from the water softener broke out and is why the clogs/reduced flow is happening.

We had a full remodel three-ish years ago adding an additional hot water heater and water softener. I don't have a lot of experience with softeners but reading up, they can have pressure issues, high chlorine content messing with the resin, regular mechanical issues, etc. Also, I noticed this morning that I think it might have been hooked up backwards from what was explained to me during the remodel and installation. I think the influent water is going into the outlet port and I didn't notice this while the plumbers were at the house yesterday. I know enough to think it's wrong, but it also looks simple enough that if I buy a replacement unit, I could install it myself. Inlet, outlet, water supply, line to brine tank, all seems pretty easy but since I think it's backwards right now, that gives me pause.

Anyone with a much better handle on this?

Talked with several suppliers, definitely plumbed backwards. Going through the GC to get something back from the plumber. Probably not much success but I'll hound the guy for a while with pictures and complaints.

Dang. At least you figured it out.

If the GC thinks you are owed something, I kinda think it's on him to make you whole and he can figure it out with his plumber on his own. That's what you pay the GC for, right? My 2 cents.

I may get to that point. He did a really good job and I argued with him at the end about his total fee and it going down when we settled the punch list because I did a lot of demo and disposal on my own. So I've already got my pound of flesh out of him, I really want it out of the plumber specifically. I'm pretty stupid for not noticing it when it was done, it's so obvious now. I was on the plumber about other stuff and I should have watched closer.

I don't disagree with your take at all. The GC is still using this plumber so I told him he better watch his ass.