diff --git a/BrewPiUtil.py b/BrewPiUtil.py
index ae51185..97556a0 100644
--- a/BrewPiUtil.py
+++ b/BrewPiUtil.py
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ def setupSerial(config, baud_rate=57600, time_out=0.1):
             else:
                 port = portSetting
             try:
-                ser = serial.Serial(port, baudrate=baud_rate, timeout=time_out, writeTimeout=0)
+                ser = serial.Serial(port, baudrate=baud_rate, timeout=time_out, write_timeout=0)
                 if ser:
                     break
             except (IOError, OSError, serial.SerialException) as e:
diff --git a/backgroundserial.py b/backgroundserial.py
index d96858b..60acdb6 100644
--- a/backgroundserial.py
+++ b/backgroundserial.py
@@ -20,7 +20,9 @@ def __init__(self, serial_port):
 
     # public interface only has 4 functions: start/stop/read_line/write
     def start(self):
-        self.ser.writeTimeout = 1 # makes sure an exception is raised when serial is lost
+        # write timeout will occur when there are problems with the serial port.
+        # without the timeout loosing the serial port goes undetected.
+        self.ser.write_timeout = 2
         self.run = True
         if not self.thread:
             self.thread = threading.Thread(target=self.__listenThread)
diff --git a/brewpi.py b/brewpi.py
index 30ea24b..3f93cfb 100644
--- a/brewpi.py
+++ b/brewpi.py
@@ -41,15 +41,18 @@
 # load non standard packages, exit when they are not installed
 try:
     import serial
-    if LooseVersion(serial.VERSION) < LooseVersion("2.7"):
-        printStdErr("BrewPi requires pyserial 2.7, you have version {0} installed.\n".format(serial.VERSION) +
+    if LooseVersion(serial.VERSION) < LooseVersion("3.0"):
+        printStdErr("BrewPi requires pyserial 3.0, you have version {0} installed.\n".format(serial.VERSION) +
                              "Please upgrade pyserial via pip, by running:\n" +
                              "  sudo pip install pyserial --upgrade\n" +
                              "If you do not have pip installed, install it with:\n" +
                              "  sudo apt-get install build-essential python-dev python-pip\n")
         sys.exit(1)
 except ImportError:
-    printStdErr("BrewPi requires PySerial to run, please install it with 'sudo apt-get install python-serial")
+    printStdErr("BrewPi requires PySerial to run, please install it via pip, by running:\n" +
+                             "  sudo pip install pyserial --upgrade\n" +
+                             "If you do not have pip installed, install it with:\n" +
+                             "  sudo apt-get install build-essential python-dev python-pip\n")
     sys.exit(1)
 try:
     import simplejson as json
diff --git a/brewpiVersion.py b/brewpiVersion.py
index 9503791..8279628 100644
--- a/brewpiVersion.py
+++ b/brewpiVersion.py
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ def getVersionFromSerial(ser):
     if not ser.isOpen():
         print "Cannot get version from serial port that is not open."
 
-    ser.setTimeout(1)
+    ser.timeout = 1
     ser.write('n')  # request version info
     while retries < 10:
         retry = True
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ def getVersionFromSerial(ser):
             retries += 1
         else:
             break
-    ser.setTimeout(oldTimeOut) # restore previous serial timeout value
+    ser.timeout = oldTimeOut # restore previous serial timeout value
     return version