diff --git a/docs/generated/settings/settings.html b/docs/generated/settings/settings.html
index 54883440a9fd..fe736143bdb3 100644
--- a/docs/generated/settings/settings.html
+++ b/docs/generated/settings/settings.html
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@
 <tr><td><code>kv.range_split.by_load_enabled</code></td><td>boolean</td><td><code>true</code></td><td>allow automatic splits of ranges based on where load is concentrated</td></tr>
 <tr><td><code>kv.range_split.load_qps_threshold</code></td><td>integer</td><td><code>2500</code></td><td>the QPS over which, the range becomes a candidate for load based splitting</td></tr>
 <tr><td><code>kv.rangefeed.enabled</code></td><td>boolean</td><td><code>false</code></td><td>if set, rangefeed registration is enabled</td></tr>
-<tr><td><code>kv.replica_circuit_breaker.slow_replication_threshold</code></td><td>duration</td><td><code>0s</code></td><td>duration after which slow proposals trip the per-Replica circuit breaker (zero duration disables breakers)</td></tr>
+<tr><td><code>kv.replica_circuit_breaker.slow_replication_threshold</code></td><td>duration</td><td><code>1m0s</code></td><td>duration after which slow proposals trip the per-Replica circuit breaker (zero duration disables breakers)</td></tr>
 <tr><td><code>kv.replica_stats.addsst_request_size_factor</code></td><td>integer</td><td><code>50000</code></td><td>the divisor that is applied to addsstable request sizes, then recorded in a leaseholders QPS; 0 means all requests are treated as cost 1</td></tr>
 <tr><td><code>kv.replication_reports.interval</code></td><td>duration</td><td><code>1m0s</code></td><td>the frequency for generating the replication_constraint_stats, replication_stats_report and replication_critical_localities reports (set to 0 to disable)</td></tr>
 <tr><td><code>kv.snapshot_rebalance.max_rate</code></td><td>byte size</td><td><code>32 MiB</code></td><td>the rate limit (bytes/sec) to use for rebalance and upreplication snapshots</td></tr>
diff --git a/pkg/kv/kvserver/replica_circuit_breaker.go b/pkg/kv/kvserver/replica_circuit_breaker.go
index 300f1db2fd62..8f68bd323a24 100644
--- a/pkg/kv/kvserver/replica_circuit_breaker.go
+++ b/pkg/kv/kvserver/replica_circuit_breaker.go
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import (
 	"sync/atomic"
 	"time"
 
+	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/base"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/clusterversion"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/kv/kvserver/liveness"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/roachpb"
@@ -42,7 +43,13 @@ type replicaInCircuitBreaker interface {
 }
 
 var defaultReplicaCircuitBreakerSlowReplicationThreshold = envutil.EnvOrDefaultDuration(
-	"COCKROACH_REPLICA_CIRCUIT_BREAKER_SLOW_REPLICATION_THRESHOLD", 0,
+	"COCKROACH_REPLICA_CIRCUIT_BREAKER_SLOW_REPLICATION_THRESHOLD",
+	// SlowRequestThreshold is used in various places to log warnings on slow
+	// request phases. We are even more conservative about the circuit breakers,
+	// i.e. multiply by a factor. This is mainly defense in depth; at time of
+	// writing the slow request threshold is 15s which *should* also be good
+	// enough for circuit breakers since it's already fairly conservative.
+	4*base.SlowRequestThreshold,
 )
 
 var replicaCircuitBreakerSlowReplicationThreshold = settings.RegisterPublicDurationSettingWithExplicitUnit(