Excessive rust on evaporator coil?

[djastroman]

This picture is of my Carrier 3.5 ton AHU. Its located in my attic, and I live in San Antonio. I have an electric heat pump outside. Its just over 5 years old, and appears to be just out of warranty. I opened up the panel to the coils because there as water dripping from the bottom of the unit into the secondary drain pain, which I assumed was because the primary drain pan must have been overflowing because the condensate drain line was clogged.

I have cleared out whatever clog there was in the main condensate drain from what I can tell. But now my question is, should I replace these coils because of the excessive rust? I assumed the rust is what caused the clog in the condensate line. Or can I just have someone come clean them?

I had a tech out here and he quoted me a cost of $ to replace the coils and [COLOR="Red"]$[/COLOR to replace the whole AHU. Seemed fishy to me. I've asked around to some folks I know who do this kind of work and they said a coil replacement is more like [COLOR="Red"]$[/COLOR for this size unit.

So what do you all think? Replace coils? If so, should I replace with aluminum coils so they don't rust?

Thanks, I appreciate any and all inputs.

[classical]

Please read the site rules no pricing allowed.

What you have is normal and unless you have a refrigerent leak leave it alone.

[cuchulain]

if it's not leaking and rust is the only problem then leave it alone. As for the clog, how long ago was maintenance done on the unit (including flushing the main drains)? The rust is a normal thing, excessive rust can be caused by a coil running a bit to cold (possibly a bit of freezing up at times and then thawing out). This can be caused by a couple things that really only someone looking at the system can Dx....ie, low charge, restriction in system, low R/A, not enough S/A.

[beenthere]

No pricing questions allowed, and no prices allowed in post, please read site rules, thank you.

[beenthere]

If you don't like a price your given, call other contractors.

[surenuff]

Rusting is not a problem unless it is a problem. If you are not leaking refrigerant, freezing up, or causing any other problems, then leave it alone. As far as the drain plugging up, it just needs to be flushed out from time to time.

[simplyrollin]

When you have name brand equipment, expect to pay name brand prices. Carriers coils are expensive.

[wraujr]

Looks better than the 15 year old coil I had replaced.
Looks similar to other coils I've seen (very limited experience)
On my coil, those support pieces are made of galvanized metal, not aluminum or copper.
AC coils tend to get wet, so eventually the support pieces rust.
So comparing to my coil, it looks normal.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.