diff --git a/cmd/tiller/tiller.go b/cmd/tiller/tiller.go
index 79c31bc82..f71b10f93 100644
--- a/cmd/tiller/tiller.go
+++ b/cmd/tiller/tiller.go
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ func start(c *cobra.Command, args []string) {
 
 // namespace returns the namespace of tiller
 func namespace() string {
-	if ns := os.Getenv("POD_NAMESPACE"); ns != "" {
+	if ns := os.Getenv("TILLER_NAMESPACE"); ns != "" {
 		return ns
 	}