diff --git a/src/applications/search/controller/PhabricatorApplicationSearchController.php b/src/applications/search/controller/PhabricatorApplicationSearchController.php
--- a/src/applications/search/controller/PhabricatorApplicationSearchController.php
+++ b/src/applications/search/controller/PhabricatorApplicationSearchController.php
@@ -249,6 +249,8 @@
         $pager = $engine->newPagerForSavedQuery($saved_query);
         $pager->readFromRequest($request);
 
+        $query->setReturnPartialResultsOnOverheat(true);
+
         $objects = $engine->executeQuery($query, $pager);
 
         $force_nux = $request->getBool('nux');
@@ -798,6 +800,7 @@
       $object = $query
         ->setViewer(PhabricatorUser::getOmnipotentUser())
         ->setLimit(1)
+        ->setReturnPartialResultsOnOverheat(true)
         ->execute();
       if ($object) {
         return null;
diff --git a/src/infrastructure/query/policy/PhabricatorPolicyAwareQuery.php b/src/infrastructure/query/policy/PhabricatorPolicyAwareQuery.php
--- a/src/infrastructure/query/policy/PhabricatorPolicyAwareQuery.php
+++ b/src/infrastructure/query/policy/PhabricatorPolicyAwareQuery.php
@@ -45,6 +45,8 @@
    */
   private $raisePolicyExceptions;
   private $isOverheated;
+  private $returnPartialResultsOnOverheat;
+  private $disableOverheating;
 
 
 /* -(  Query Configuration  )------------------------------------------------ */
@@ -130,6 +132,16 @@
     return $this;
   }
 
+  final public function setReturnPartialResultsOnOverheat($bool) {
+    $this->returnPartialResultsOnOverheat = $bool;
+    return $this;
+  }
+
+  final public function setDisableOverheating($disable_overheating) {
+    $this->disableOverheating = $disable_overheating;
+    return $this;
+  }
+
 
 /* -(  Query Execution  )---------------------------------------------------- */
 
@@ -319,9 +331,22 @@
         break;
       }
 
-      if ($overheat_limit && ($total_seen >= $overheat_limit)) {
-        $this->isOverheated = true;
-        break;
+      if (!$this->disableOverheating) {
+        if ($overheat_limit && ($total_seen >= $overheat_limit)) {
+          $this->isOverheated = true;
+
+          if (!$this->returnPartialResultsOnOverheat) {
+            throw new Exception(
+              pht(
+                'Query (of class "%s") overheated: examined more than %s '.
+                'raw rows without finding %s visible objects.',
+                get_class($this),
+                new PhutilNumber($overheat_limit),
+                new PhutilNumber($need)));
+          }
+
+          break;
+        }
       }
     } while (true);
 
diff --git a/src/infrastructure/storage/lisk/PhabricatorQueryIterator.php b/src/infrastructure/storage/lisk/PhabricatorQueryIterator.php
--- a/src/infrastructure/storage/lisk/PhabricatorQueryIterator.php
+++ b/src/infrastructure/storage/lisk/PhabricatorQueryIterator.php
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@
     $pager = clone $this->pager;
     $query = clone $this->query;
 
+    $query->setDisableOverheating(true);
+
     $results = $query->executeWithCursorPager($pager);
 
     // If we got less than a full page of results, this was the last set of