Softening Water Magnetically?

I just don't know about this one...

I quote from http://www.aquadoc.com/magsolves.htm:

Awareness of water conditioning alternatives is essential for providing good customer service.

In many situations, hard water problems cause the need to replace piping and water heaters or to use a salt ion-exchange softener. Many times the salt ion-exchange process is impractical for homeowners with heart problems or hypertension because it increases the sodium level of the drinking water to unacceptable levels.

In 1973 U.S. Government agencies identified an alternative method that has been used for over 37 years in Europe and Asia - the magnetic water conditioner.

The system works this way. Conditioned natural water is made up of chaotic randomly positioned molecules.The magnetic water polarizes the water which causes all of the water molecules and the scale forming minerals to be attracted to each other.

As the water flows through the magnetic field, the hard water minerals are polarized and remain in liquid suspension eliminating the problem of these particles clinging to water pipes and the wall of the water heater.

Essentially, scale forming minerals end up suspended in the water and all prior existing scale is magnetically attracted to the water. This is descaling period is known as the stabilization period and lasts from two to six months.

Durring this stabilization period, the scale is removed from the water heater on the tank bottom. It's recommended that two or three quarts are drained from the lower tap on the heater once each month.Manufacturers state that while scale is being removed from the system, green stains also are removed from the fixtures. This is a sign that pipes have stopped leaching (pitting internally).

After the polarizing process, the water is still very safe to drink reports R.E. Myers, Inc. " Those scale producing minerals are exactly what people pay extra for when drinking quality mineral water, The medical community says these minerals are important to our health. Because the magnetic condition also causes de-gasification of water which naturally releases such gases as sulfur and chlorine, magnetic water conditioning often improves the taste of drinking water.

" Another effect is the shortening of the bonding between the hydrogen and oxygen atoms. This makes the water denser and softer. Soap works better, leaving clothes cleaner and softer."

The U.S. Buerau of Interior reports 3/8 inch deposits of scale in the hot water heater uses 48 percent more fuel to heat. When the scale is removed, a more efficient water heating system is created. [/blockquote]

Having an understanding of physics (although a fairly limited one), I can see that this could be possible. I understand that the hard water causing minerals will still be in the water, but that they will be attracted to the water and won't cause hard water deposits. What does everyone else think?

Here is a link to such a device being sold on the market:

http://solargoods.com/docs/efap_pt_mineralmanager.shtml

By the way, I only posted this because my parents got suckered into this one and bought one. It wasn't this model, but I couldn't find a link to the exact one that they bought.

UPDATE: This is the exact one that my parents bought: