diff --git a/src/redis.c b/src/redis.c
index faf05e17..5928d9db 100644
--- a/src/redis.c
+++ b/src/redis.c
@@ -1275,7 +1275,7 @@ void initServerConfig() {
     server.repl_syncio_timeout = REDIS_REPL_SYNCIO_TIMEOUT;
     server.repl_serve_stale_data = 1;
     server.repl_slave_ro = 1;
-    server.repl_down_since = time(NULL);
+    server.repl_down_since = 0; /* Never connected, repl is down since EVER. */
     server.repl_disable_tcp_nodelay = 0;
     server.slave_priority = REDIS_DEFAULT_SLAVE_PRIORITY;
     server.master_repl_offset = 0;