diff --git a/nginx_stage/lib/nginx_stage.rb b/nginx_stage/lib/nginx_stage.rb
index 3574ffaf8a..c7f5387c25 100644
--- a/nginx_stage/lib/nginx_stage.rb
+++ b/nginx_stage/lib/nginx_stage.rb
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 require_relative "nginx_stage/pid_file"
 require_relative "nginx_stage/socket_file"
 require_relative "nginx_stage/secret_key_base_file"
+require_relative "nginx_stage/session_finder"
 require_relative "nginx_stage/views/pun_config_view"
 require_relative "nginx_stage/views/app_config_view"
 require_relative "nginx_stage/generator"
diff --git a/nginx_stage/lib/nginx_stage/generators/nginx_clean_generator.rb b/nginx_stage/lib/nginx_stage/generators/nginx_clean_generator.rb
index f745e460f5..60c2ea67ee 100644
--- a/nginx_stage/lib/nginx_stage/generators/nginx_clean_generator.rb
+++ b/nginx_stage/lib/nginx_stage/generators/nginx_clean_generator.rb
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@ module NginxStage
   # This generator cleans all running per-user NGINX processes that are
   # inactive (i.e., not active connections).
   class NginxCleanGenerator < Generator
+
+    include NginxStage::SessionFinder
+
     desc 'Clean all user running PUNs with no active connections'
 
     footer <<-EOF.gsub(/^ {4}/, '')
@@ -59,8 +62,9 @@ class NginxCleanGenerator < Generator
           next if (user && user != u.to_s)
           pid_path = PidFile.new NginxStage.pun_pid_path(user: u)
           socket = SocketFile.new NginxStage.pun_socket_path(user: u)
-          cleanup_stale_files(pid_path, socket) unless pid_path.running_process? 
-          if socket.sessions.zero? || force
+          sessions = session_count(u)
+          cleanup_stale_files(pid_path, socket) unless pid_path.running_process?
+          if sessions.zero? || force
             puts u
             if !skip_nginx
               NginxStage.clean_nginx_env(user: user)
diff --git a/nginx_stage/lib/nginx_stage/session_finder.rb b/nginx_stage/lib/nginx_stage/session_finder.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2047b7d5d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nginx_stage/lib/nginx_stage/session_finder.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+module NginxStage
+  module SessionFinder
+    def session_count(user)
+      `ps  -o cmd -u #{user}`.split("\n").select do |command|
+        command.match?(/Passenger [\w]+App:/)
+      end.count
+    end
+  end
+end
\ No newline at end of file