diff --git a/include/cronhooks.php b/include/cronhooks.php
index 3a09da48ce..26cab3cf92 100644
--- a/include/cronhooks.php
+++ b/include/cronhooks.php
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ function cronhooks_run(&$argv, &$argc){
 	if(function_exists('sys_getloadavg')) {
 		$load = sys_getloadavg();
 		if(intval($load[0]) > $maxsysload) {
-			logger('system: load ' . $load . ' too high. Poller deferred to next scheduled run.');
+			logger('system: load ' . $load[0] . ' too high. Cronhooks deferred to next scheduled run.');
 			return;
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/include/delivery.php b/include/delivery.php
index 1def8ad2cc..a913e13170 100644
--- a/include/delivery.php
+++ b/include/delivery.php
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ function delivery_run(&$argv, &$argc){
 		if(function_exists('sys_getloadavg')) {
 			$load = sys_getloadavg();
 			if(intval($load[0]) > $maxsysload) {
-				logger('system: load ' . $load . ' too high. Delivery deferred to next queue run.');
+				logger('system: load ' . $load[0] . ' too high. Delivery deferred to next queue run.');
 				return;
 			}
 		}
diff --git a/include/poller.php b/include/poller.php
index cef11a7443..933624ecb5 100644
--- a/include/poller.php
+++ b/include/poller.php
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ function poller_run(&$argv, &$argc){
 	if(function_exists('sys_getloadavg')) {
 		$load = sys_getloadavg();
 		if(intval($load[0]) > $maxsysload) {
-			logger('system: load ' . $load . ' too high. Poller deferred to next scheduled run.');
+			logger('system: load ' . $load[0] . ' too high. Poller deferred to next scheduled run.');
 			return;
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/index.php b/index.php
index a4a8624433..02316e1e95 100644
--- a/index.php
+++ b/index.php
@@ -53,6 +53,20 @@ if(!$install) {
 	load_config('config');
 	load_config('system');
 
+	$maxsysload_frontend = intval(get_config('system','maxloadavg_frontend'));
+	if($maxsysload_frontend < 1)
+		$maxsysload_frontend = 50;
+	if(function_exists('sys_getloadavg')) {
+		$load = sys_getloadavg();
+		if(intval($load[0]) > $maxsysload_frontend) {
+			logger('system: load ' . $load[0] . ' too high. Service Temporarily Unavailable.');
+			header($_SERVER["SERVER_PROTOCOL"].' 503 Service Temporarily Unavailable');
+			header('Retry-After: 300');
+			die("System is currently unavailable. Please try again later");
+		}
+	}
+
+
 	if (get_config('system','force_ssl') AND ($a->get_scheme() == "http") AND
 		(intval(get_config('system','ssl_policy')) == SSL_POLICY_FULL) AND
 		(substr($a->get_baseurl(), 0, 8) == "https://")) {
diff --git a/mod/admin.php b/mod/admin.php
index 0aa9023738..4383406476 100644
--- a/mod/admin.php
+++ b/mod/admin.php
@@ -357,6 +357,7 @@ function admin_page_site_post(&$a){
 	$delivery_interval	=	((x($_POST,'delivery_interval'))	? intval(trim($_POST['delivery_interval']))	: 0);
 	$poll_interval		=	((x($_POST,'poll_interval'))		? intval(trim($_POST['poll_interval']))		: 0);
 	$maxloadavg		=	((x($_POST,'maxloadavg'))		? intval(trim($_POST['maxloadavg']))		: 50);
+	$maxloadavg_frontend	=	((x($_POST,'maxloadavg_frontend'))	? intval(trim($_POST['maxloadavg_frontend']))	: 50);
 	$dfrn_only		=	((x($_POST,'dfrn_only'))		? True						: False);
 	$ostatus_disabled	=	!((x($_POST,'ostatus_disabled'))	? True  					: False);
 	$ostatus_poll_interval	=	((x($_POST,'ostatus_poll_interval'))	? intval(trim($_POST['ostatus_poll_interval']))	:  0);
@@ -423,6 +424,7 @@ function admin_page_site_post(&$a){
 	set_config('system','delivery_interval',$delivery_interval);
 	set_config('system','poll_interval',$poll_interval);
 	set_config('system','maxloadavg',$maxloadavg);
+	set_config('system','maxloadavg_frontend',$maxloadavg_frontend);
 	set_config('config','sitename',$sitename);
 	set_config('config','hostname',$hostname);
 	set_config('config','sender_email', $sender_email);
@@ -677,6 +679,7 @@ function admin_page_site(&$a) {
 		'$delivery_interval'	=> array('delivery_interval', t("Delivery interval"), (x(get_config('system','delivery_interval'))?get_config('system','delivery_interval'):2), t("Delay background delivery processes by this many seconds to reduce system load. Recommend: 4-5 for shared hosts, 2-3 for virtual private servers. 0-1 for large dedicated servers.")),
 		'$poll_interval'	=> array('poll_interval', t("Poll interval"), (x(get_config('system','poll_interval'))?get_config('system','poll_interval'):2), t("Delay background polling processes by this many seconds to reduce system load. If 0, use delivery interval.")),
 		'$maxloadavg'		=> array('maxloadavg', t("Maximum Load Average"), ((intval(get_config('system','maxloadavg')) > 0)?get_config('system','maxloadavg'):50), t("Maximum system load before delivery and poll processes are deferred - default 50.")),
+		'$maxloadavg_frontend'	=> array('maxloadavg_frontend', t("Maximum Load Average (Frontend)"), ((intval(get_config('system','maxloadavg_frontend')) > 0)?get_config('system','maxloadavg_frontend'):50), t("Maximum system load before the frontend quits service - default 50.")),
 
 		'$use_fulltext_engine'	=> array('use_fulltext_engine', t("Use MySQL full text engine"), get_config('system','use_fulltext_engine'), t("Activates the full text engine. Speeds up search - but can only search for four and more characters.")),
 		'$suppress_language'	=> array('suppress_language', t("Suppress Language"), get_config('system','suppress_language'), t("Suppress language information in meta information about a posting.")),
diff --git a/view/templates/admin_site.tpl b/view/templates/admin_site.tpl
index 6880f0fd91..bcaed585c2 100644
--- a/view/templates/admin_site.tpl
+++ b/view/templates/admin_site.tpl
@@ -107,6 +107,7 @@
 	{{include file="field_input.tpl" field=$delivery_interval}}
 	{{include file="field_input.tpl" field=$poll_interval}}
 	{{include file="field_input.tpl" field=$maxloadavg}}
+	{{include file="field_input.tpl" field=$maxloadavg_frontend}}
 	{{include file="field_input.tpl" field=$abandon_days}}
 	{{include file="field_input.tpl" field=$lockpath}}
 	{{include file="field_input.tpl" field=$temppath}}