diff --git a/doc/source/admin/components.rst b/doc/source/admin/components.rst
index c0038a8f15..1a7320ece0 100644
--- a/doc/source/admin/components.rst
+++ b/doc/source/admin/components.rst
@@ -597,7 +597,7 @@ The following sections of ``zuul.conf`` are used by the executor:
       This integer is the maximum number of megabytes that any one job
       is allowed to consume on disk while it is running. If a job's
       scratch space has more than this much space consumed, it will be
-      aborted.
+      aborted. Set to -1 to disable the limit.
 
    .. attr:: trusted_ro_paths
 
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_disk_accountant.py b/tests/unit/test_disk_accountant.py
index e12846d29b..646808a0d5 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_disk_accountant.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_disk_accountant.py
@@ -65,6 +65,18 @@ class TestDiskAccountant(BaseTestCase):
             da.stop()
         self.assertFalse(da.thread.is_alive())
 
+    def test_disk_accountant_no_limit(self):
+        jobs_dir = tempfile.mkdtemp(
+            dir=os.environ.get("ZUUL_TEST_ROOT", None))
+        cache_dir = tempfile.mkdtemp()
+        executor_server = FakeExecutor()
+        da = DiskAccountant(jobs_dir, -1, executor_server.stopJobByJobDir,
+                            cache_dir)
+        da.start()
+        self.assertFalse(da.running)
+        da.stop()
+        self.assertFalse(da.running)
+
     def test_cache_hard_links(self):
         root_dir = tempfile.mkdtemp(
             dir=os.environ.get("ZUUL_TEST_ROOT", None))
diff --git a/zuul/executor/server.py b/zuul/executor/server.py
index 184028dffa..f91ac1cca9 100644
--- a/zuul/executor/server.py
+++ b/zuul/executor/server.py
@@ -148,16 +148,25 @@ class DiskAccountant(object):
             self.stop_event.wait(delay_time)
 
     def start(self):
+        if self.limit < 0:
+            # No need to start if there is no limit.
+            return
         self._running = True
         self.thread.start()
 
     def stop(self):
+        if not self.running:
+            return
         self._running = False
         self.stop_event.set()
         # We join here to avoid whitelisting the thread -- if it takes more
         # than 5s to stop in tests, there's a problem.
         self.thread.join(timeout=5)
 
+    @property
+    def running(self):
+        return self._running
+
 
 class Watchdog(object):
     def __init__(self, timeout, function, args):