diff --git a/pkg/storage/compactor/compactor.go b/pkg/storage/compactor/compactor.go
index 5328ec12d5c4..241244d3005b 100644
--- a/pkg/storage/compactor/compactor.go
+++ b/pkg/storage/compactor/compactor.go
@@ -129,7 +129,11 @@ func NewCompactor(
 // compactionMinInterval, but only if there are compactions pending.
 func (c *Compactor) Start(ctx context.Context, tracer opentracing.Tracer, stopper *stop.Stopper) {
 	// Wake up immediately to examine the queue and set the bytes queued metric.
-	c.ch <- struct{}{}
+	select {
+	// The compactor can already have compactions waiting on it, so don't try to block here.
+	case c.ch <- struct{}{}:
+	default:
+	}
 
 	stopper.RunWorker(ctx, func(ctx context.Context) {
 		var timer timeutil.Timer
diff --git a/pkg/storage/compactor/compactor_test.go b/pkg/storage/compactor/compactor_test.go
index e979ba77d1e2..5306f68eb539 100644
--- a/pkg/storage/compactor/compactor_test.go
+++ b/pkg/storage/compactor/compactor_test.go
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/util/syncutil"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/util/timeutil"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/util/tracing"
+	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 )
 
 const testCompactionLatency = 1 * time.Millisecond
@@ -533,6 +534,29 @@ func TestCompactorThresholds(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+// TestCompactorDeadlockOnStart prevents regression of an issue that
+// could cause nodes to lock up during the boot sequence. The
+// compactor may receive suggestions before starting the goroutine,
+// yet starting the goroutine could block on the suggestions channel,
+// deadlocking the call to (Compactor).Start and thus the main node
+// boot goroutine. This was observed in practice.
+func TestCompactorDeadlockOnStart(t *testing.T) {
+	stopper := stop.NewStopper()
+	defer stopper.Stop(context.Background())
+
+	eng := newWrappedEngine()
+	stopper.AddCloser(eng)
+	capFn := func() (roachpb.StoreCapacity, error) {
+		return roachpb.StoreCapacity{}, errors.New("never called")
+	}
+	doneFn := func(_ context.Context) {}
+	compactor := NewCompactor(eng, capFn, doneFn)
+
+	compactor.ch <- struct{}{}
+
+	compactor.Start(context.Background(), tracing.NewTracer(), stopper)
+}
+
 // TestCompactorProcessingInitialization verifies that a compactor gets
 // started with processing if the queue is non-empty.
 func TestCompactorProcessingInitialization(t *testing.T) {