diff --git a/src/main.c b/src/main.c
index b98fdcca..682901f5 100644
--- a/src/main.c
+++ b/src/main.c
@@ -375,8 +375,6 @@ mainloop(void)
     if (ts.tv_sec > dispatch_clock) {
       dispatch_clock = ts.tv_sec;
 
-      spawn_reaper(); /* reap spawned processes */
-
       comet_flush(); /* Flush idle comet mailboxes */
     }
 
diff --git a/src/spawn.c b/src/spawn.c
index 1692afe3..e910f9cc 100644
--- a/src/spawn.c
+++ b/src/spawn.c
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 #include <dirent.h>
 
 #include "tvheadend.h"
+#include "tvhpoll.h"
 #include "file.h"
 #include "spawn.h"
 
@@ -49,6 +50,10 @@ static char *spawn_error_buf = NULL;
 static th_pipe_t spawn_pipe_info;
 static th_pipe_t spawn_pipe_error;
 
+static pthread_t spawn_pipe_tid;
+
+static int spawn_pipe_running;
+
 typedef struct spawn {
   LIST_ENTRY(spawn) link;
   pid_t pid;
@@ -83,6 +88,8 @@ spawn_pipe_read( th_pipe_t *p, char **_buf, int level )
         continue;
       break;
     }
+    buf[len + r] = '\0';
+    tvhlog_hexdump("spawn", buf + len, r);
     while ((s = strchr(buf, '\n')) != NULL) {
       *s++ = '\0';
       tvhlog(level, "spawn", "%s", buf);
@@ -95,13 +102,58 @@ spawn_pipe_read( th_pipe_t *p, char **_buf, int level )
   }
 }
 
+static void *
+spawn_pipe_thread(void *aux)
+{
+  tvhpoll_event_t ev[2];
+  tvhpoll_t *efd = tvhpoll_create(2);
+  int nfds;
+
+  memset(ev, 0, sizeof(ev));
+  ev[0].events   = TVHPOLL_IN;
+  ev[0].fd       = spawn_pipe_info.rd;
+  ev[0].data.ptr = &spawn_pipe_info;
+  ev[1].events   = TVHPOLL_IN;
+  ev[1].fd       = spawn_pipe_error.rd;
+  ev[1].data.ptr = &spawn_pipe_error;
+  tvhpoll_add(efd, ev, 2);
+
+  while (spawn_pipe_running) {
+
+    nfds = tvhpoll_wait(efd, ev, 2, 500);
+
+    if (nfds > 0) {
+      spawn_pipe_read(&spawn_pipe_info, &spawn_info_buf, LOG_INFO);
+      spawn_pipe_read(&spawn_pipe_error, &spawn_error_buf, LOG_ERR);
+    }
+    spawn_reaper();
+
+  }
+
+  tvhpoll_destroy(efd);
+  return NULL;
+}
+
 static void
 spawn_pipe_write( th_pipe_t *p, const char *fmt, va_list ap )
 {
-  char buf[512];
+  char buf[512], *s = buf;
+  int r;
 
   vsnprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), fmt, ap);
-  (void)write(p->wr, buf, strlen(buf));
+  while (*s) {
+    r = write(p->wr, s, strlen(s));
+    if (r < 0) {
+      if (errno == EAGAIN)
+        break;
+      if (ERRNO_AGAIN(errno))
+        continue;
+      break;
+    }
+    if (!r)
+      break;
+    s += r;
+  }
 }
 
 void
@@ -176,9 +228,6 @@ spawn_reap(char *stxt, size_t stxtlen)
   int status, res;
   spawn_t *s;
 
-  spawn_pipe_read(&spawn_pipe_info, &spawn_info_buf, LOG_INFO);
-  spawn_pipe_read(&spawn_pipe_error, &spawn_error_buf, LOG_ERR);
-
   pid = waitpid(-1, &status, WNOHANG);
   if(pid < 1)
     return -EAGAIN;
@@ -438,10 +487,15 @@ void spawn_init(void)
 {
   tvh_pipe(O_NONBLOCK, &spawn_pipe_info);
   tvh_pipe(O_NONBLOCK, &spawn_pipe_error);
+  spawn_pipe_running = 1;
+  pthread_create(&spawn_pipe_tid, NULL, spawn_pipe_thread, NULL);
 }
 
 void spawn_done(void)
 {
+  spawn_pipe_running = 0;
+  pthread_kill(spawn_pipe_tid, SIGTERM);
+  pthread_join(spawn_pipe_tid, NULL);
   tvh_pipe_close(&spawn_pipe_error);
   tvh_pipe_close(&spawn_pipe_info);
   free(spawn_error_buf);