diff --git a/src/threadpool.c b/src/threadpool.c
index f9bdc4923..ef98a973a 100644
--- a/src/threadpool.c
+++ b/src/threadpool.c
@@ -192,44 +192,26 @@ void uv__threadpool_cleanup(void) {
 
 
 static void init_threads(void) {
-  const char env_name[] = "UV_THREADPOOL_SIZE";
-
   uv_thread_options_t config;
   unsigned int i;
 
   size_t bufsize;
-  /* a size of 5 should work quite fine, as there won't be many threads 
-   * and the MAX_THREADPOOL_SIZE is 1024
-   */
-  char fastvarbuf[5];
-  char* varbuf;
+  char fastvarbuf[16];
   const char* val;
 
+  int err;
+
   uv_sem_t sem;
 
   nthreads = ARRAY_SIZE(default_threads);
 
   bufsize = ARRAY_SIZE(fastvarbuf);
-  varbuf = NULL;
 
-  int err = uv_os_getenv(env_name, fastvarbuf, &bufsize);
+  err = uv_os_getenv("UV_THREADPOOL_SIZE", fastvarbuf, &bufsize);
   if (err == 0)
     val = fastvarbuf;
-  else if (err == UV_ENOBUFS) {
-    /* this should not happen, but just in case */
-    varbuf = uv__malloc(bufsize);
-    val = varbuf;
-    err = uv_os_getenv(env_name, varbuf, &bufsize);
-
-    if (err != 0) {
-      /* failed again */
-      val = NULL;
-      uv__free(varbuf);
-    }
-  } else {
-    /* UV_ENOENT and other err */
-    val = NULL;
-  }
+  else
+    val = NULL; /* UV_ENOBUFS, UV_ENOENT and other err */
   
   if (val != NULL)
     nthreads = atoi(val);
@@ -238,11 +220,6 @@ static void init_threads(void) {
   if (nthreads > MAX_THREADPOOL_SIZE)
     nthreads = MAX_THREADPOOL_SIZE;
 
-  if (varbuf != NULL) {
-    uv__free(varbuf);
-    varbuf = NULL;
-  }
-
   threads = default_threads;
   if (nthreads > ARRAY_SIZE(default_threads)) {
     threads = uv__malloc(nthreads * sizeof(threads[0]));