diff --git a/artemis-core-client/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/api/core/client/ActiveMQClient.java b/artemis-core-client/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/api/core/client/ActiveMQClient.java
index 028b6c84f0..1bb8d38d14 100644
--- a/artemis-core-client/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/api/core/client/ActiveMQClient.java
+++ b/artemis-core-client/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/api/core/client/ActiveMQClient.java
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ public final class ActiveMQClient {
 
    public static final long DEFAULT_CALL_TIMEOUT = 30000;
 
-   public static final long DEFAULT_CALL_FAILOVER_TIMEOUT = -1;
+   public static final long DEFAULT_CALL_FAILOVER_TIMEOUT = 30000;
 
    public static final int DEFAULT_ACK_BATCH_SIZE = 1024 * 1024;
 
diff --git a/artemis-core-client/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/client/ActiveMQClientMessageBundle.java b/artemis-core-client/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/client/ActiveMQClientMessageBundle.java
index f0543d1cda..c23e9bbd12 100644
--- a/artemis-core-client/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/client/ActiveMQClientMessageBundle.java
+++ b/artemis-core-client/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/client/ActiveMQClientMessageBundle.java
@@ -227,4 +227,7 @@ public interface ActiveMQClientMessageBundle {
 
    @Message(id = 119060, value = "Large Message Transmission interrupted on consumer shutdown.")
    ActiveMQLargeMessageInterruptedException largeMessageInterrupted();
+
+   @Message(id = 119061, value = "Cannot send a packet while channel is failing over.")
+   IllegalStateException cannotSendPacketDuringFailover();
 }
diff --git a/artemis-core-client/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/protocol/core/impl/ChannelImpl.java b/artemis-core-client/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/protocol/core/impl/ChannelImpl.java
index 373bfa4e97..57ed1e8474 100644
--- a/artemis-core-client/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/protocol/core/impl/ChannelImpl.java
+++ b/artemis-core-client/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/protocol/core/impl/ChannelImpl.java
@@ -228,9 +228,15 @@ public final class ChannelImpl implements Channel {
 
          try {
             if (failingOver) {
-               // TODO - don't hardcode this timeout
                try {
-                  failoverCondition.await(10000, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
+                  if (connection.getBlockingCallFailoverTimeout() < 0) {
+                     failoverCondition.await();
+                  }
+                  else {
+                     if (!failoverCondition.await(connection.getBlockingCallFailoverTimeout(), TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)) {
+                        ActiveMQClientLogger.LOGGER.debug("timed-out waiting for fail-over condition on non-blocking send");
+                     }
+                  }
                }
                catch (InterruptedException e) {
                   throw new ActiveMQInterruptedException(e);
@@ -239,7 +245,7 @@ public final class ChannelImpl implements Channel {
 
             // Sanity check
             if (transferring) {
-               throw new IllegalStateException("Cannot send a packet while channel is doing failover");
+               throw ActiveMQClientMessageBundle.BUNDLE.cannotSendPacketDuringFailover();
             }
 
             if (resendCache != null && packet.isRequiresConfirmations()) {
@@ -302,7 +308,7 @@ public final class ChannelImpl implements Channel {
                   }
                   else {
                      if (!failoverCondition.await(connection.getBlockingCallFailoverTimeout(), TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)) {
-                        ActiveMQClientLogger.LOGGER.debug("timed-out waiting for failover condition");
+                        ActiveMQClientLogger.LOGGER.debug("timed-out waiting for fail-over condition on blocking send");
                      }
                   }
                }