diff --git a/main/src/com/google/refine/RefineServlet.java b/main/src/com/google/refine/RefineServlet.java
index 5ca0f9db0..31b6d9aa1 100644
--- a/main/src/com/google/refine/RefineServlet.java
+++ b/main/src/com/google/refine/RefineServlet.java
@@ -85,8 +85,6 @@ public class RefineServlet extends Butterfly {
 
     static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger("refine");
 
-    static protected long AUTOSAVE_PERIOD = 5; // default: 5 minutes
-    
     static protected class AutoSaveTimerTask implements Runnable {
         @Override
         public void run() {
@@ -131,7 +129,7 @@ public class RefineServlet extends Butterfly {
         FileProjectManager.initialize(s_dataDir);
         ImportingManager.initialize(this);
 
-	AUTOSAVE_PERIOD = Long.parseLong(getInitParameter("refine.autosave"));
+	long AUTOSAVE_PERIOD = Long.parseLong(getInitParameter("refine.autosave"));
 
         service.scheduleWithFixedDelay(new AutoSaveTimerTask(), AUTOSAVE_PERIOD, 
                 AUTOSAVE_PERIOD, TimeUnit.MINUTES);
diff --git a/server/src/com/google/refine/Refine.java b/server/src/com/google/refine/Refine.java
index 813dcb721..7e6e32a9a 100644
--- a/server/src/com/google/refine/Refine.java
+++ b/server/src/com/google/refine/Refine.java
@@ -291,7 +291,7 @@ class RefineServer extends Server {
         if (servlet != null) {
             servlet.setInitParameter("refine.data", getDataDir());
             servlet.setInitParameter("butterfly.modules.path", getDataDir() + "/extensions");
-            servlet.setInitParameter("refine.autosave", Configurations.get("refine.autosave"));
+            servlet.setInitParameter("refine.autosave", Configurations.get("refine.autosave", "5")); // default: 5 minutes
             servlet.setInitOrder(1);
             servlet.doStart();
         }