diff --git a/tripleoclient/heat_launcher.py b/tripleoclient/heat_launcher.py
index d16544e54..768c75f56 100644
--- a/tripleoclient/heat_launcher.py
+++ b/tripleoclient/heat_launcher.py
@@ -37,6 +37,8 @@ from tenacity.wait import wait_fixed
 from tripleoclient.constants import (DEFAULT_HEAT_CONTAINER,
                                      DEFAULT_HEAT_API_CONTAINER,
                                      DEFAULT_HEAT_ENGINE_CONTAINER,
+                                     DEFAULT_EPHEMERAL_HEAT_API_CONTAINER,
+                                     DEFAULT_EPHEMERAL_HEAT_ENGINE_CONTAINER,
                                      DEFAULT_TEMPLATES_DIR,
                                      EPHEMERAL_HEAT_POD_NAME)
 from tripleoclient.exceptions import HeatPodMessageQueueException
@@ -462,7 +464,18 @@ class HeatPodLauncher(HeatContainerLauncher):
              '-l', 's0', self.heat_dir])
 
     def _fetch_container_image(self):
-        if self.skip_heat_pull:
+        # Skip trying to pull the images if they are set to the default
+        # as they can't be pulled since they are tagged as localhost.
+        # If the images are missing for some reason, podman will still pull
+        # them by default, and error appropriately if needed.
+        if (self.api_container_image ==
+                DEFAULT_EPHEMERAL_HEAT_API_CONTAINER or
+                self.engine_container_image ==
+                DEFAULT_EPHEMERAL_HEAT_ENGINE_CONTAINER):
+            skip_heat_pull = True
+        else:
+            skip_heat_pull = self.skip_heat_pull
+        if skip_heat_pull:
             log.info("Skipping container image pull.")
             return
         # force pull of latest container image
diff --git a/tripleoclient/tests/test_heat_launcher.py b/tripleoclient/tests/test_heat_launcher.py
index 7c117ec45..b3aa9a2e6 100644
--- a/tripleoclient/tests/test_heat_launcher.py
+++ b/tripleoclient/tests/test_heat_launcher.py
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import shutil
 import subprocess
 import time
 
+from tripleoclient import constants
 from tripleoclient import heat_launcher
 from tripleoclient.exceptions import HeatPodMessageQueueException
 from tripleoclient.tests import base
@@ -69,10 +70,23 @@ class TestHeatPodLauncher(base.TestCase):
         launcher._fetch_container_image()
         self.assertFalse(self.check_calls('podman pull', self.check_output))
 
+        # With skip_heat_pull=False, this should try and run the command to
+        # pull the default images from quay.io
         launcher = self.get_launcher(skip_heat_pull=False)
         launcher._fetch_container_image()
         self.assertTrue(self.check_calls('podman pull', self.check_output))
 
+        # With skip_heat_pull=False, but using the default ephemeral heat
+        # container images, this should still skip the command to run the pull
+        launcher = self.get_launcher(skip_heat_pull=False)
+        launcher.api_container_image = \
+            constants.DEFAULT_EPHEMERAL_HEAT_API_CONTAINER
+        launcher.engine_container_image = \
+            constants.DEFAULT_EPHEMERAL_HEAT_ENGINE_CONTAINER
+        self.check_output.reset_mock()
+        launcher._fetch_container_image()
+        self.check_output.assert_not_called()
+
     @mock.patch('tripleoclient.heat_launcher.HeatPodLauncher._decode')
     def test_get_pod_state(self, mock_decode):
         launcher = self.get_launcher()
diff --git a/tripleoclient/v1/overcloud_deploy.py b/tripleoclient/v1/overcloud_deploy.py
index 4b68288f7..0443108ed 100644
--- a/tripleoclient/v1/overcloud_deploy.py
+++ b/tripleoclient/v1/overcloud_deploy.py
@@ -736,18 +736,6 @@ class DeployOvercloud(command.Command):
 
     def setup_ephemeral_heat(self, parsed_args):
         self.log.info("Using ephemeral heat for stack operation")
-        # Skip trying to pull the images if they are set to the default
-        # as they can't be pulled since they are tagged as localhost.
-        # If the images are missing for some reason, podman will still pull
-        # them by default, and error appropriately if needed.
-        if (parsed_args.heat_container_api_image ==
-                constants.DEFAULT_EPHEMERAL_HEAT_API_CONTAINER or
-                parsed_args.heat_container_engine_image ==
-                constants.DEFAULT_EPHEMERAL_HEAT_ENGINE_CONTAINER):
-            skip_heat_pull = True
-        else:
-            skip_heat_pull = parsed_args.skip_heat_pull
-
         self.heat_launcher = utils.get_heat_launcher(
             parsed_args.heat_type,
             api_container_image=parsed_args.heat_container_api_image,
@@ -756,7 +744,7 @@ class DeployOvercloud(command.Command):
                                   'heat-launcher'),
             use_tmp_dir=False,
             rm_heat=parsed_args.rm_heat,
-            skip_heat_pull=skip_heat_pull)
+            skip_heat_pull=parsed_args.skip_heat_pull)
         self.orchestration_client = utils.launch_heat(self.heat_launcher)
         self.clients.orchestration = self.orchestration_client