diff --git a/lib/bunny/heartbeat_sender.rb b/lib/bunny/heartbeat_sender.rb
index 209f5c598..671fa078f 100644
--- a/lib/bunny/heartbeat_sender.rb
+++ b/lib/bunny/heartbeat_sender.rb
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ def beat
 
       if now > (@last_activity_time + @interval)
         @logger.debug { "Sending a heartbeat, last activity time: #{@last_activity_time}, interval (s): #{@interval}" }
-        @transport.write_without_timeout(AMQ::Protocol::HeartbeatFrame.encode)
+        @transport.write_without_timeout(AMQ::Protocol::HeartbeatFrame.encode, true)
       end
     end
   end
diff --git a/lib/bunny/transport.rb b/lib/bunny/transport.rb
index b187b5737..e05a26957 100644
--- a/lib/bunny/transport.rb
+++ b/lib/bunny/transport.rb
@@ -157,12 +157,13 @@ def write(data)
     end
 
     # Writes data to the socket without timeout checks
-    def write_without_timeout(data)
+    def write_without_timeout(data, raise_exceptions = false)
       begin
         @writes_mutex.synchronize { @socket.write(data) }
         @socket.flush
       rescue SystemCallError, Bunny::ConnectionError, IOError => e
         close
+        raise e if raise_exceptions
 
         if @session.automatically_recover?
           @session.handle_network_failure(e)
diff --git a/spec/higher_level_api/integration/toxiproxy_spec.rb b/spec/higher_level_api/integration/toxiproxy_spec.rb
index 5f464f3e2..303455f81 100644
--- a/spec/higher_level_api/integration/toxiproxy_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/higher_level_api/integration/toxiproxy_spec.rb
@@ -5,18 +5,19 @@
   describe Bunny::Channel, "#basic_publish" do
     include RabbitMQ::Toxiproxy
 
-    before(:all) do
-      setup_toxiproxy
-      @connection = Bunny.new(:user => "bunny_gem", :password => "bunny_password", :vhost => "bunny_testbed",
-        host: "localhost:11111", heartbeat_timeout: 1)
-      @connection.start
-    end
 
-    after :all do
+    after :each do
       @connection.close if @connection.open?
     end
 
-    context "when the the connection detects missed heartbeats" do
+    context "when the the connection detects missed heartbeat with automatic recovery" do
+      before(:each) do
+        setup_toxiproxy
+        @connection = Bunny.new(:user => "bunny_gem", :password => "bunny_password", :vhost => "bunny_testbed",
+          host: "localhost:11111", heartbeat_timeout: 1, automatically_recover: true)
+        @connection.start
+      end
+
       let(:queue_name) { "bunny.basic.publish.queue#{rand}" }
 
       it "raises a ConnectionClosedError" do
@@ -30,6 +31,21 @@
           cleanup_toxiproxy
         end
       end
+
+      context "when the the connection detects missed heartbeats without automatic recovery" do
+        before(:each) do
+          setup_toxiproxy
+          @connection = Bunny.new(:user => "bunny_gem", :password => "bunny_password", :vhost => "bunny_testbed",
+            host: "localhost:11111", heartbeat_timeout: 1, automatically_recover: false, threaded: false)
+          @connection.start
+        end
+
+        it "does not raise an exception on session thread" do
+         rabbitmq_toxiproxy.down do
+            sleep 5
+          end
+        end
+      end
     end
   end
 else