Is the black insulated pipe just out of the frame the refrigerant line that goes to the outdoor unit? If so I would say the burn mark was a result of when they were installing the coil and the torch got pointed the wrong way.
Historically when I've seen units struck by lightning it's the flue pipe through the roof that gets hit, the unit will not run at all inside or out and you'll find burn marks in the unit where the ground wire connects or behind the circuit board after removal. I'm guessing that's a Goodman or Amana system as they had a coil that the refrigerant lines came out of the top (assuming that photo was the top).
I'm going to lean toward a capacitor being bad but my advice is worth what you paid.
Good luck!
FDXAg said:
Of possibly greater concern, when I was up in the attic I noticed this burned area where the gas furnace meets the start of the ductwork. Almost looks like fire damage?? Could this have been from a lightning strike?? We've had some bad storms in the last few weeks with lightning but when I looked up at the area above this in the attic, I didn't immediately notice a hole or damage in the roof. It was night though, so it's possible I didn't notice something. We've also had probably 2 to 3 inches of rain in the last week or so, so I'd think I would have pretty significant water damage around this area but I didn't see anything noticeable. There are lots of black charred fragments everywhere as you can kind of see in the picture on top of the furnace
Maybe it's a blessing in disguise that I'm having to call an HVAC company out so they can look at this area as well. I don't like the look of it at all.
