diff --git a/jupyterhub/app.py b/jupyterhub/app.py
index 41bec9ea..7ce3fb7b 100644
--- a/jupyterhub/app.py
+++ b/jupyterhub/app.py
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@ from tornado.log import app_log, access_log, gen_log
 import tornado.options
 from tornado import gen, web
 from tornado.platform.asyncio import AsyncIOMainLoop
-AsyncIOMainLoop().install()
 
 from traitlets import (
     Unicode, Integer, Dict, TraitError, List, Bool, Any,
@@ -1643,6 +1642,7 @@ class JupyterHub(Application):
     @classmethod
     def launch_instance(cls, argv=None):
         self = cls.instance()
+        AsyncIOMainLoop().install()
         loop = IOLoop.current()
         loop.add_callback(self.launch_instance_async, argv)
         try:
diff --git a/jupyterhub/tests/conftest.py b/jupyterhub/tests/conftest.py
index 3eb272c1..1a0a4471 100644
--- a/jupyterhub/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/jupyterhub/tests/conftest.py
@@ -45,9 +45,7 @@ def io_loop(request):
 
     def _close():
         io_loop.clear_current()
-        if (not ioloop.IOLoop.initialized() or
-                io_loop is not ioloop.IOLoop.instance()):
-            io_loop.close(all_fds=True)
+        io_loop.close(all_fds=True)
 
     request.addfinalizer(_close)
     return io_loop
diff --git a/jupyterhub/tests/mocking.py b/jupyterhub/tests/mocking.py
index 983fec08..6562a5b0 100644
--- a/jupyterhub/tests/mocking.py
+++ b/jupyterhub/tests/mocking.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 """mock utilities for testing"""
 
+import asyncio
 from concurrent.futures import ThreadPoolExecutor
 import os
 import sys
@@ -235,6 +236,7 @@ class MockHub(JupyterHub):
         # to avoid multiple eventloops in the same thread errors from asyncio
 
         def cleanup():
+            asyncio.set_event_loop(asyncio.new_event_loop())
             loop = IOLoop.current()
             loop.run_sync(self.cleanup)
             loop.close()
diff --git a/jupyterhub/tests/test_services_auth.py b/jupyterhub/tests/test_services_auth.py
index 455a8f22..d0e69a8a 100644
--- a/jupyterhub/tests/test_services_auth.py
+++ b/jupyterhub/tests/test_services_auth.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import asyncio
 from binascii import hexlify
 import copy
 import json
@@ -125,6 +126,7 @@ def test_hub_authenticated(request):
     port = 50505
     q = Queue()
     def run():
+        asyncio.set_event_loop(asyncio.new_event_loop())
         app = Application([
             ('/*', TestHandler),
         ], login_url=auth.login_url)