diff --git a/src/main/java/com/commafeed/backend/feeds/FeedRefreshUpdater.java b/src/main/java/com/commafeed/backend/feeds/FeedRefreshUpdater.java
index 65a2f535..2ca810ff 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/commafeed/backend/feeds/FeedRefreshUpdater.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/commafeed/backend/feeds/FeedRefreshUpdater.java
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ public class FeedRefreshUpdater {
 	public void init() {
 		ApplicationSettings settings = applicationSettingsService.get();
 		int threads = Math.max(settings.getDatabaseUpdateThreads(), 1);
-		pool = new FeedRefreshExecutor("feed-refresh-updater", threads, 500 * threads);
+		pool = new FeedRefreshExecutor("feed-refresh-updater", threads, Math.min(50 * threads, 1000));
 		locks = Striped.lazyWeakLock(threads * 100000);
 	}
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/commafeed/backend/feeds/FeedRefreshWorker.java b/src/main/java/com/commafeed/backend/feeds/FeedRefreshWorker.java
index f670928a..24a00fac 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/commafeed/backend/feeds/FeedRefreshWorker.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/commafeed/backend/feeds/FeedRefreshWorker.java
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ public class FeedRefreshWorker {
 	private void init() {
 		ApplicationSettings settings = applicationSettingsService.get();
 		int threads = settings.getBackgroundThreads();
-		pool = new FeedRefreshExecutor("feed-refresh-worker", threads, 20 * threads);
+		pool = new FeedRefreshExecutor("feed-refresh-worker", threads, Math.min(20 * threads, 1000));
 	}
 
 	@PreDestroy