diff --git a/src/modules/load_mon/load_mon.cpp b/src/modules/load_mon/load_mon.cpp
index aa2ab37163..2c6d9dec1e 100644
--- a/src/modules/load_mon/load_mon.cpp
+++ b/src/modules/load_mon/load_mon.cpp
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@
 extern struct system_load_s system_load;
 
 #define STACK_LOW_WARNING_THRESHOLD 300 ///< if free stack space falls below this, print a warning
-#define FDS_LOW_WARNING_THRESHOLD 10 ///< if free file descriptors fall below this, print a warning
+#define FDS_LOW_WARNING_THRESHOLD 3 ///< if free file descriptors fall below this, print a warning
 
 namespace load_mon
 {