diff --git a/libtransmission/peer-io.c b/libtransmission/peer-io.c
index 89caf8574..c97b1939f 100644
--- a/libtransmission/peer-io.c
+++ b/libtransmission/peer-io.c
@@ -268,11 +268,9 @@ tr_evbuffer_write( tr_peerIo * io, int fd, size_t howmuch )
         evbuffer_drain( buffer, n );
 
     /* keep the iobuf's excess capacity from growing too large */
-    if( buffer->totallen > ( EVBUFFER_LENGTH( buffer ) + 4096 ) ) {
-        struct evbuffer * swap = evbuffer_new( );
-        evbuffer_add( swap, EVBUFFER_DATA( buffer ), EVBUFFER_LENGTH( buffer ) );
-        evbuffer_free( buffer );
-        io->outbuf = swap;
+    if( EVBUFFER_LENGTH( io->outbuf ) == 0 ) {
+        evbuffer_free( io->outbuf );
+        io->outbuf = evbuffer_new( );
     }
 
     return n;