diff --git a/common/src/main/java/io/druid/concurrent/Execs.java b/common/src/main/java/io/druid/concurrent/Execs.java
index ea27bf96e05..e522ce10cf4 100644
--- a/common/src/main/java/io/druid/concurrent/Execs.java
+++ b/common/src/main/java/io/druid/concurrent/Execs.java
@@ -21,10 +21,15 @@ package io.druid.concurrent;
 
 import com.google.common.util.concurrent.ThreadFactoryBuilder;
 
+import java.util.concurrent.ArrayBlockingQueue;
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
 import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
+import java.util.concurrent.RejectedExecutionException;
+import java.util.concurrent.RejectedExecutionHandler;
 import java.util.concurrent.ScheduledExecutorService;
 import java.util.concurrent.ThreadFactory;
+import java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 
 /**
  */
@@ -49,4 +54,31 @@ public class Execs
   {
     return new ThreadFactoryBuilder().setDaemon(true).setNameFormat(nameFormat).build();
   }
+
+  /**
+   * @param nameFormat nameformat for threadFactory
+   * @param capacity maximum capacity after which the executorService will block on accepting new tasks
+   * @return ExecutorService which blocks accepting new tasks when the capacity reached
+   */
+  public static ExecutorService blockingSingleThreaded(String nameFormat, int capacity)
+  {
+    return new ThreadPoolExecutor(
+        1, 1,
+        0L, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS,
+        new ArrayBlockingQueue<Runnable>(capacity), makeThreadFactory(nameFormat)
+        , new RejectedExecutionHandler()
+    {
+      @Override
+      public void rejectedExecution(Runnable r, ThreadPoolExecutor executor)
+      {
+        try {
+          ((ArrayBlockingQueue) executor.getQueue()).put(r);
+        }
+        catch (InterruptedException e) {
+          throw new RejectedExecutionException("Got Interrupted while adding to the Queue");
+        }
+      }
+    }
+    );
+  }
 }
diff --git a/common/src/test/java/io/druid/concurrent/ExecsTest.java b/common/src/test/java/io/druid/concurrent/ExecsTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..04e842580dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/src/test/java/io/druid/concurrent/ExecsTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+package io.druid.concurrent;
+
+import com.google.common.base.Throwables;
+import org.junit.Assert;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import java.util.concurrent.CyclicBarrier;
+import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
+
+public class ExecsTest
+{
+  @Test
+  public void testBlockingExecutorService() throws Exception
+  {
+    final int capacity = 3;
+    final ExecutorService executorService = Execs.blockingSingleThreaded("test%d", capacity);
+    final AtomicInteger producedCount = new AtomicInteger();
+    final AtomicInteger consumedCount = new AtomicInteger();
+    final CyclicBarrier barrier = new CyclicBarrier(2);
+    Thread producer = new Thread("producer")
+    {
+      public void run()
+      {
+        for (int i = 0; i < 2 * capacity; i++) {
+          final int taskID = i;
+          System.out.println("Produced task"+ taskID);
+          executorService.submit(
+              new Runnable()
+              {
+                @Override
+                public void run()
+                {
+                  System.out.println("Starting task" + taskID);
+                  try {
+                    barrier.await();
+                  }
+                  catch (Exception e) {
+                    throw Throwables.propagate(e);
+                  }
+                  consumedCount.incrementAndGet();
+                  System.out.println("Completed task" + taskID);
+                }
+              }
+          );
+          producedCount.incrementAndGet();
+        }
+      }
+    };
+    producer.start();
+    for(int i=0;i<capacity;i++){
+      Thread.sleep(500);
+      // total completed tasks +1 running task+ capacity = total produced tasks
+      Assert.assertEquals(consumedCount.intValue()+1+capacity,producedCount.intValue());
+      barrier.await();
+
+    }
+    for(int i=0;i<capacity;i++){
+      barrier.await();
+    }
+
+
+  }
+}
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/io/druid/segment/realtime/plumber/RealtimePlumberSchool.java b/server/src/main/java/io/druid/segment/realtime/plumber/RealtimePlumberSchool.java
index 9dc18257b68..e14835b14c8 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/io/druid/segment/realtime/plumber/RealtimePlumberSchool.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/io/druid/segment/realtime/plumber/RealtimePlumberSchool.java
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@ import com.google.common.collect.Lists;
 import com.google.common.collect.Maps;
 import com.google.common.primitives.Ints;
 import com.google.common.util.concurrent.MoreExecutors;
-import com.google.common.util.concurrent.ThreadFactoryBuilder;
 import com.metamx.common.Pair;
 import com.metamx.common.concurrent.ScheduledExecutors;
 import com.metamx.common.guava.FunctionalIterable;
@@ -42,6 +41,7 @@ import io.druid.client.DruidServer;
 import io.druid.client.ServerView;
 import io.druid.common.guava.ThreadRenamingCallable;
 import io.druid.common.guava.ThreadRenamingRunnable;
+import io.druid.concurrent.Execs;
 import io.druid.guice.annotations.Processing;
 import io.druid.query.MetricsEmittingQueryRunner;
 import io.druid.query.Query;
@@ -84,7 +84,6 @@ import java.util.Comparator;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
-import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
 import java.util.concurrent.ScheduledExecutorService;
 
 /**
@@ -92,43 +91,33 @@ import java.util.concurrent.ScheduledExecutorService;
 public class RealtimePlumberSchool implements PlumberSchool
 {
   private static final EmittingLogger log = new EmittingLogger(RealtimePlumberSchool.class);
-
   private final Period windowPeriod;
   private final File basePersistDirectory;
   private final IndexGranularity segmentGranularity;
   private final Object handoffCondition = new Object();
-
   private volatile boolean shuttingDown = false;
-
   @JacksonInject
   @NotNull
   private volatile ServiceEmitter emitter;
-
   @JacksonInject
   @NotNull
   private volatile QueryRunnerFactoryConglomerate conglomerate = null;
-
   @JacksonInject
   @NotNull
   private volatile DataSegmentPusher dataSegmentPusher = null;
-
   @JacksonInject
   @NotNull
   private volatile DataSegmentAnnouncer segmentAnnouncer = null;
-
   @JacksonInject
   @NotNull
   private volatile SegmentPublisher segmentPublisher = null;
-
   @JacksonInject
   @NotNull
   private volatile ServerView serverView = null;
-
   @JacksonInject
   @NotNull
   @Processing
   private volatile ExecutorService queryExecutorService = null;
-
   private volatile VersioningPolicy versioningPolicy = null;
   private volatile RejectionPolicyFactory rejectionPolicyFactory = null;
 
@@ -485,22 +474,13 @@ public class RealtimePlumberSchool implements PlumberSchool
       private void initializeExecutors()
       {
         if (persistExecutor == null) {
-          persistExecutor = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(
-              1,
-              new ThreadFactoryBuilder()
-                  .setDaemon(true)
-                  .setNameFormat("plumber_persist_%d")
-                  .build()
+          // use a blocking single threaded executor to throttle the firehose when write to disk is slow
+          persistExecutor = Execs.blockingSingleThreaded(
+              "plumber_persist_%d",2
           );
         }
         if (scheduledExecutor == null) {
-          scheduledExecutor = Executors.newScheduledThreadPool(
-              1,
-              new ThreadFactoryBuilder()
-                  .setDaemon(true)
-                  .setNameFormat("plumber_scheduled_%d")
-                  .build()
-          );
+          scheduledExecutor = Execs.scheduledSingleThreaded("plumber_scheduled_%d");
         }
       }
 
@@ -697,7 +677,8 @@ public class RealtimePlumberSchool implements PlumberSchool
       /**
        * Unannounces a given sink and removes all local references to it.
        */
-      private void abandonSegment(final long truncatedTime, final Sink sink) {
+      private void abandonSegment(final long truncatedTime, final Sink sink)
+      {
         try {
           segmentAnnouncer.unannounceSegment(sink.getSegment());
           FileUtils.deleteDirectory(computePersistDir(schema, sink.getInterval()));