diff --git a/src/compute_temp_chunk.cpp b/src/compute_temp_chunk.cpp
index 6713fcef85..bc8df94b79 100644
--- a/src/compute_temp_chunk.cpp
+++ b/src/compute_temp_chunk.cpp
@@ -204,6 +204,8 @@ double ComputeTempChunk::compute_scalar()
   cchunk->compute_ichunk();
   int *ichunk = cchunk->ichunk;
 
+  if (nchunk > maxchunk) allocate();
+
   // remove velocity bias
 
   if (biasflag) {
@@ -314,6 +316,8 @@ void ComputeTempChunk::compute_vector()
   cchunk->compute_ichunk();
   int *ichunk = cchunk->ichunk;
 
+  if (nchunk > maxchunk) allocate();
+
   // remove velocity bias
 
   if (biasflag) {