diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 66fa938..da80c34 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "logging"
-version = "0.4.4"
+version = "0.4.5"
 authors = ["Jonathan Strong <jstrong@legis.io>"]
 
 [[example]]
diff --git a/src/influx.rs b/src/influx.rs
index 4a26994..d9612fc 100644
--- a/src/influx.rs
+++ b/src/influx.rs
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ use std::sync::mpsc::{Sender, Receiver, channel, SendError};
 use std::thread;
 #[cfg(feature = "warnings")]
 use std::fs;
-use std::time::Duration;
+use std::time::{Instant, Duration};
 use std::hash::BuildHasherDefault;
 
 use hyper::status::StatusCode;
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ pub use super::{dur_nanos, dt_nanos};
 
 pub type Map<K, V> = OrderMap<K, V, BuildHasherDefault<FnvHasher>>;
 
+pub const INFLUX_WRITER_MAX_BUFFER: usize = 4096;
+
 pub fn new_map<K, V>(capacity: usize) -> Map<K, V> {
     Map::with_capacity_and_hasher(capacity, Default::default())
 }
@@ -269,11 +271,13 @@ impl InfluxWriter {
     }
 
     #[allow(unused_assignments)]
-    pub fn with_logger(host: &str, db: &str, buffer_size: u16, logger: Logger) -> Self {
+    pub fn with_logger(host: &str, db: &str, _buffer_size: u16, logger: Logger) -> Self {
         let (tx, rx): (Sender<Option<OwnedMeasurement>>, Receiver<Option<OwnedMeasurement>>) = channel();
 
+        let buffer_size = INFLUX_WRITER_MAX_BUFFER;
+
         #[cfg(feature = "no-influx-buffer")]
-        let buffer_size = 0u16;
+        let buffer_size = 0usize;
 
         debug!(logger, "initializing url"; "host" => host, "db" => db, "buffer_size" => buffer_size);
 
@@ -288,6 +292,8 @@ impl InfluxWriter {
             debug!(logger, "initializing buffers");
             let mut buf = String::with_capacity(32 * 32 * 32);
             let mut count = 0;
+            let mut last = Instant::now();
+            let mut loop_time = Instant::now();
 
             let send = |buf: &str| {
                 let resp = client.post(url.clone())
@@ -296,12 +302,15 @@ impl InfluxWriter {
                 match resp {
 
                     Ok(Response { status, .. }) if status == StatusCode::NoContent => {
-                        debug!(logger, "server responded ok: 204 NoContent");  
+                        debug!(logger, "server responded ok: 204 NoContent");
                     }
 
                     Ok(mut resp) =>  {
-                        let mut server_resp = String::with_capacity(1024);
+                        let mut server_resp = String::with_capacity(32 * 1024); // need to allocate here bc will be
+                                                                                // sent to logging thread
+
                         let _ = resp.read_to_string(&mut server_resp); //.unwrap_or(0);
+
                         error!(logger, "influx server error";
                                "status" => resp.status.to_string(),
                                "body" => server_resp);
@@ -313,14 +322,14 @@ impl InfluxWriter {
                 }
             };
 
-            let next = |prev: u16, m: &OwnedMeasurement, buf: &mut String| -> u16 {
+            let next = |prev: usize, m: &OwnedMeasurement, buf: &mut String, loop_time: &Instant, last: &mut Instant| -> usize {
                 match prev {
                     0 if buffer_size > 0 => {
                         serialize_owned(m, buf);
                         1
                     }
 
-                    n if n < buffer_size => {
+                    n if n < buffer_size && *loop_time - *last < Duration::from_secs(2) => {
                         buf.push_str("\n");
                         serialize_owned(m, buf);
                         n + 1
@@ -331,6 +340,7 @@ impl InfluxWriter {
                         serialize_owned(m, buf);
                         debug!(logger, "sending buffer to influx"; "len" => n);
                         send(buf);
+                        *last = *loop_time;
                         buf.clear();
                         0
                     }
@@ -338,6 +348,7 @@ impl InfluxWriter {
             };
 
             loop {
+                loop_time = Instant::now();
                 match rx.recv() {
                     Ok(Some(mut meas)) => {
 
@@ -345,7 +356,7 @@ impl InfluxWriter {
 
                         //#[cfg(feature = "trace")] { if count % 10 == 0 { trace!(logger, "rcvd new measurement"; "count" => count, "key" => meas.key); } }
 
-                        count = next(count, &meas, &mut buf);
+                        count = next(count, &meas, &mut buf, &loop_time, &mut last);
                     }
 
                     Ok(None) => {