diff --git a/libsrc4/nc4var.c b/libsrc4/nc4var.c
index 9616e5650..1d282ada6 100644
--- a/libsrc4/nc4var.c
+++ b/libsrc4/nc4var.c
@@ -266,8 +266,22 @@ nc4_find_default_chunksizes2(NC_GRP_INFO_T *grp, NC_VAR_INFO_T *var)
 	  var->chunksizes[d] = 1; /* overwritten below, if all dims are unlimited */
       }
    }
-
-   if (var->ndims > 0 && var->ndims == num_unlim) { /* all dims unlimited */
+   /* Special case to avoid 1D vars with unlim dim taking huge amount
+      of space (DEFAULT_CHUNK_SIZE bytes). Instead we limit to about
+      4KB */
+#define DEFAULT_1D_UNLIM_SIZE (4096) /* TODO: make build-time parameter? */
+   if (var->ndims == 1 && num_unlim == 1) {
+       if (DEFAULT_CHUNK_SIZE / type_size <= 0)
+	 suggested_size = 1;
+       else if (DEFAULT_CHUNK_SIZE / type_size > DEFAULT_1D_UNLIM_SIZE)
+	 suggested_size = DEFAULT_1D_UNLIM_SIZE;
+       else
+	 suggested_size = DEFAULT_CHUNK_SIZE / type_size;
+       var->chunksizes[0] = suggested_size / type_size;
+       LOG((4, "%s: name %s dim %d DEFAULT_CHUNK_SIZE %d num_values %f type_size %d "
+	    "chunksize %ld", __func__, var->name, d, DEFAULT_CHUNK_SIZE, num_values, type_size, var->chunksizes[0]));
+   }
+   if (var->ndims > 1 && var->ndims == num_unlim) { /* all dims unlimited */
        suggested_size = pow((double)DEFAULT_CHUNK_SIZE/type_size, 1.0/(double)(var->ndims));
        for (d = 0; d < var->ndims; d++)
        {
@@ -878,7 +892,7 @@ nc_def_var_extra(int ncid, int varid, int *shuffle, int *deflate,
       var->contiguous = NC_FALSE;
    }
 
-   /* Fltcher32 checksum error protection? */
+   /* Fletcher32 checksum error protection? */
    if (fletcher32)
    {
       var->fletcher32 = *fletcher32;
@@ -995,7 +1009,7 @@ NC4_def_var_fletcher32(int ncid, int varid, int fletcher32)
    and before nc_enddef. 
 
    Chunking is required in any dataset with one or more unlimited
-   dimension in HDF5, or any dataset using a filter.
+   dimensions in HDF5, or any dataset using a filter.
 
    Where chunksize is a pointer to an array of size ndims, with the
    chunksize in each dimension.