diff --git a/tests/wsgi_test.py b/tests/wsgi_test.py
index 6cc4a06..179881d 100644
--- a/tests/wsgi_test.py
+++ b/tests/wsgi_test.py
@@ -160,6 +160,18 @@ class ConnectionClosed(Exception):
     pass
 
 
+def send_expect_close(sock, buf):
+    # Some tests will induce behavior that causes the remote end to
+    # close the connection before all of the data has been written.
+    # With small kernel buffer sizes, this can cause an EPIPE error.
+    # Since the test expects an early close, this can be ignored.
+    try:
+        sock.sendall(buf)
+    except socket.error as exc:
+        if support.get_errno(exc) != errno.EPIPE:
+            raise
+
+
 def read_http(sock):
     fd = sock.makefile('rb')
     try:
@@ -336,10 +348,9 @@ class TestHttpd(_TestBase):
         for ii in range(3000):
             path_parts.append('path')
         path = '/'.join(path_parts)
-        request = ('GET /%s HTTP/1.0\r\nHost: localhost\r\n\r\n' % path).encode()
-        fd = sock.makefile('rwb')
-        fd.write(request)
-        fd.flush()
+        request = 'GET /%s HTTP/1.0\r\nHost: localhost\r\n\r\n' % path
+        send_expect_close(sock, request.encode())
+        fd = sock.makefile('rb')
         result = fd.readline()
         if result:
             # windows closes the socket before the data is flushed,
@@ -1196,23 +1207,17 @@ class TestHttpd(_TestBase):
         sock = eventlet.connect(('localhost', self.port))
         request = 'GET / HTTP/1.0\r\nHost: localhost\r\nLong: %s\r\n\r\n' % \
             ('a' * 10000)
-        fd = sock.makefile('rwb')
-        fd.write(request.encode())
-        fd.flush()
+        send_expect_close(sock, request.encode())
         result = read_http(sock)
         self.assertEqual(result.status, 'HTTP/1.0 400 Header Line Too Long')
-        fd.close()
 
     def test_031_reject_large_headers(self):
         sock = eventlet.connect(('localhost', self.port))
         headers = ('Name: %s\r\n' % ('a' * 7000,)) * 20
         request = 'GET / HTTP/1.0\r\nHost: localhost\r\n%s\r\n\r\n' % headers
-        fd = sock.makefile('rwb')
-        fd.write(request.encode())
-        fd.flush()
+        send_expect_close(sock, request.encode())
         result = read_http(sock)
         self.assertEqual(result.status, 'HTTP/1.0 400 Headers Too Large')
-        fd.close()
 
     def test_032_wsgi_input_as_iterable(self):
         # https://bitbucket.org/eventlet/eventlet/issue/150