diff --git a/api/api.go b/api/api.go
index 3c28afe289..87cd3c5a37 100644
--- a/api/api.go
+++ b/api/api.go
@@ -555,13 +555,20 @@ func durToMsec(dur time.Duration) string {
 // serverError is a string we look for to detect 500 errors.
 const serverError = "Unexpected response code: 500"
 
-// IsServerError returns true for 500 errors from the Consul servers, these are
-// usually retryable at a later time.
-func IsServerError(err error) bool {
+// IsRetryableError returns true for 500 errors from the Consul servers, and
+// network connection errors. These are usually retryable at a later time.
+// This applies to reads but NOT to writes. This may return true for errors
+// on writes that may have still gone through, so do not use this to retry
+// any write operations.
+func IsRetryableError(err error) bool {
 	if err == nil {
 		return false
 	}
 
+	if _, ok := err.(net.Error); ok {
+		return true
+	}
+
 	// TODO (slackpad) - Make a real error type here instead of using
 	// a string check.
 	return strings.Contains(err.Error(), serverError)
diff --git a/api/api_test.go b/api/api_test.go
index ba3a448ab1..f06bc1b304 100644
--- a/api/api_test.go
+++ b/api/api_test.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	crand "crypto/rand"
 	"crypto/tls"
 	"fmt"
+	"net"
 	"net/http"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
@@ -529,17 +530,21 @@ func TestAPI_durToMsec(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func TestAPI_IsServerError(t *testing.T) {
+func TestAPI_IsRetryableError(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()
-	if IsServerError(nil) {
-		t.Fatalf("should not be a server error")
+	if IsRetryableError(nil) {
+		t.Fatal("should not be a retryable error")
 	}
 
-	if IsServerError(fmt.Errorf("not the error you are looking for")) {
-		t.Fatalf("should not be a server error")
+	if IsRetryableError(fmt.Errorf("not the error you are looking for")) {
+		t.Fatal("should not be a retryable error")
 	}
 
-	if !IsServerError(fmt.Errorf(serverError)) {
-		t.Fatalf("should be a server error")
+	if !IsRetryableError(fmt.Errorf(serverError)) {
+		t.Fatal("should be a retryable error")
+	}
+
+	if !IsRetryableError(&net.OpError{Err: fmt.Errorf("network conn error")}) {
+		t.Fatal("should be a retryable error")
 	}
 }
diff --git a/api/lock.go b/api/lock.go
index 466ef5fdf1..d3187113f7 100644
--- a/api/lock.go
+++ b/api/lock.go
@@ -370,7 +370,7 @@ RETRY:
 		// by doing retries. Note that we have to attempt the retry in a non-
 		// blocking fashion so that we have a clean place to reset the retry
 		// counter if service is restored.
-		if retries > 0 && IsServerError(err) {
+		if retries > 0 && IsRetryableError(err) {
 			time.Sleep(l.opts.MonitorRetryTime)
 			retries--
 			opts.WaitIndex = 0
diff --git a/api/semaphore.go b/api/semaphore.go
index 9ddbdc49e7..d848dfd0b1 100644
--- a/api/semaphore.go
+++ b/api/semaphore.go
@@ -492,7 +492,7 @@ RETRY:
 		// by doing retries. Note that we have to attempt the retry in a non-
 		// blocking fashion so that we have a clean place to reset the retry
 		// counter if service is restored.
-		if retries > 0 && IsServerError(err) {
+		if retries > 0 && IsRetryableError(err) {
 			time.Sleep(s.opts.MonitorRetryTime)
 			retries--
 			opts.WaitIndex = 0