diff --git a/include/cantera/zeroD/Reactor.h b/include/cantera/zeroD/Reactor.h
index 5cd39b68c..db2d51756 100644
--- a/include/cantera/zeroD/Reactor.h
+++ b/include/cantera/zeroD/Reactor.h
@@ -78,6 +78,8 @@ public:
         m_kin = &kin;
         if (m_kin->nReactions() == 0) {
             disableChemistry();
+        } else {
+            enableChemistry();
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/interfaces/cython/cantera/reactor.pyx b/interfaces/cython/cantera/reactor.pyx
index febc42a9b..24c5f2497 100644
--- a/interfaces/cython/cantera/reactor.pyx
+++ b/interfaces/cython/cantera/reactor.pyx
@@ -165,7 +165,8 @@ cdef class Reactor(ReactorBase):
     def insert(self, _SolutionBase solution):
         ReactorBase.insert(self, solution)
         self._kinetics = solution
-        self.reactor.setKineticsMgr(deref(solution.kinetics))
+        if solution.kinetics != NULL:
+            self.reactor.setKineticsMgr(deref(solution.kinetics))
 
     property kinetics:
         """
diff --git a/src/zeroD/Reactor.cpp b/src/zeroD/Reactor.cpp
index 54e6973ce..34623a046 100644
--- a/src/zeroD/Reactor.cpp
+++ b/src/zeroD/Reactor.cpp
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ Reactor::Reactor() : ReactorBase(),
     m_kin(0),
     m_vdot(0.0),
     m_Q(0.0),
-    m_chem(true),
+    m_chem(false),
     m_energy(true),
     m_nsens(npos)
 {}