diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 82dedcab..9bd8b65b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -13,6 +13,9 @@ The **patch** part changes incrmentally at each release.
 ### Added
 * postfix: add lines in /etc/.gitignore
 
+### Changed
+* elasticsearch: use ES_TMPDIR variable for custom tmpdir, (from `/etc/default/elasticsearch` instead of changing `/etc/elesticsearch/jvm.options`).
+
 ## [9.1.6] - 2018-02-02
 
 ### Added
diff --git a/elasticsearch/tasks/tmpdir.yml b/elasticsearch/tasks/tmpdir.yml
index b6bd445a..d7046f02 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/tasks/tmpdir.yml
+++ b/elasticsearch/tasks/tmpdir.yml
@@ -18,10 +18,21 @@
     tags:
       - elasticsearch
 
+  - name: check if ES_TMPDIR is available
+    lineinfile:
+      dest: /etc/default/elasticsearch
+      line: "ES_TMPDIR={{ elasticsearch_custom_tmpdir or elasticsearch_default_tmpdir | mandatory }}"
+      regexp: "^ES_TMPDIR="
+      insertafter: "JAVA_HOME"
+    notify:
+      - restart elasticsearch
+    tags:
+      - elasticsearch
+
   - name: change JVM tmpdir
     lineinfile:
       dest: /etc/elasticsearch/jvm.options
-      line: "-Djava.io.tmpdir={{ elasticsearch_custom_tmpdir or elasticsearch_default_tmpdir | mandatory }}"
+      line: "-Djava.io.tmpdir=${ES_TMPDIR}"
       regexp: "^-Djava.io.tmpdir="
       insertafter: "## JVM configuration"
     notify: