Man puts a half load of clothes into his washing machine. Then he hears a boom: ‘It sounds like a bomb that went off’

A washing machine cycle took a startling turn for one homeowner when a loud boom sent him rushing to the laundry room. Bruce Johnson says his GE washer’s lid had come off its hinges and flown across the room, leaving him stunned. His TikTok account of the incident has since gained tens of thousands of views.

He explained that he had owned the GE SmartWash technology washer, along with a matching dryer, for a little over two years. Roughly 20 minutes later, Johnson claimed he heard a sudden loud boom with no earlier noise or other warning that anything was wrong.

He stated in the video that the sound was like a bomb. “It sounds like a bomb that went off,” he said. Johnson described coming into the laundry room and finding the lid had come off the hinges, flown onto the floor, and hit the wall.

Similar washer failures have been reported with GE machines

In a later photo post on TikTok, Johnson gave an update. He wrote that a technician came out on Friday to look at the damage to the washer and that he was still going back and forth with GE by email about next steps. He said he would keep people updated on the final status and thanked viewers for their concerns and comments. Washer trouble has also fueled other viral stories, including one where a man lost $400 to a washing machine scammer.

In a May 2025 WGAL report, a Cumberland County, Pennsylvania woman named Kathy Stallsmith described a comparable incident with her GE Profile washing machine. She said she was washing a mattress pad when she heard a loud explosion and later found the drum cover partly out of the machine, with the nearby dryer dented and other parts displaced.

According to the report, GE said that in very rare cases these incidents can happen when waterproof or water-resistant items such as mattress pads are washed. The company indicated that water trapped in the item can release suddenly during a high-speed spin cycle and cause a rapid shift inside the drum.

Stallsmith told the station that GE offered to reimburse 25 percent of the cost of a replacement washer and to extend the warranty on the new machine by one year. The report noted that washer failures during high-speed cycles have been described with machines from several major brands over the past decade.

Johnson showed in his video that the force appeared to have moved the washer away from the wall and pushed the dryer, leaving dents on the dryer and holes and dents in the drywall. He pointed to scattered plastic parts on the floor and water that had come out of the machine.

He said protective plastic film was still on the front of the washer, which he described as looking almost brand new. Johnson claimed there had been no unusual noises that would have signaled an overloaded load and given him a chance to stop and rearrange the clothes.

He stated that the amount of damage from a small load of clothes did not seem normal and that many parts should not have come off. Johnson described the scene as looking similar to the result of a car collision and said the washer itself had shifted from its original position.

Some people who watched Johnson’s video shared different reactions. One person wrote, “Stay away from anything that says “smart”.” Another said, “Glad you weren’t in there when it happened.” Odd machine moments go viral beyond washers too, like when a Coinstar machine screen accused a Michigan man.

A commenter who indicated they own the same model wrote, “I have that exact model and when it spins it sounds like police banging on my door!” Someone else stated, “I have never been so thankful for my old dumb washer.” One more person wrote, “now im questioning our new washing machine, when it does through the rinse cycle. all I hear is a bunch of ruckus.”