diff --git a/sei-tendermint/internal/consensus/state.go b/sei-tendermint/internal/consensus/state.go
index 14835acc9d..18125e153b 100644
--- a/sei-tendermint/internal/consensus/state.go
+++ b/sei-tendermint/internal/consensus/state.go
@@ -431,10 +431,7 @@ func (cs *State) OnStart(ctx context.Context) error {
 
 	// we need the timeoutRoutine for replay so
 	// we don't block on the tick chan.
-	// NOTE: we will get a build up of garbage go routines
-	// firing on the tockChan until the receiveRoutine is started
-	// to deal with them (by that point, at most one will be valid)
-	cs.Spawn("timeoutTicker", cs.timeoutTicker.Run)
+	cs.SpawnCritical("timeoutTicker", cs.timeoutTicker.Run)
 
 	// We may have lost some votes if the process crashed reload from consensus
 	// log to catchup.
diff --git a/sei-tendermint/internal/consensus/ticker.go b/sei-tendermint/internal/consensus/ticker.go
index a362249df9..cdb3b8d4bf 100644
--- a/sei-tendermint/internal/consensus/ticker.go
+++ b/sei-tendermint/internal/consensus/ticker.go
@@ -7,10 +7,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/tendermint/tendermint/libs/utils/scope"
 )
 
-var (
-	tickTockBufferSize = 10
-)
-
 // TimeoutTicker is a timer that schedules timeouts
 // conditional on the height/round/step in the timeoutInfo.
 // The timeoutInfo.Duration may be non-positive.
@@ -36,7 +32,7 @@ func NewTimeoutTicker(logger log.Logger) TimeoutTicker {
 	tt := &timeoutTicker{
 		logger:   logger,
 		tick:     utils.NewAtomicWatch(utils.None[timeoutInfo]()),
-		tockChan: make(chan timeoutInfo, tickTockBufferSize),
+		tockChan: make(chan timeoutInfo),
 	}
 	return tt
 }
@@ -60,19 +56,33 @@ func (t *timeoutTicker) ScheduleTimeout(newti timeoutInfo) {
 // timers are interupted and replaced by new ticks from later steps
 // timeouts of 0 on the tickChan will be immediately relayed to the tockChan
 func (t *timeoutTicker) Run(ctx context.Context) error {
+	tock := utils.NewAtomicWatch(utils.None[timeoutInfo]()) // last fired timeout
 	return scope.Run(ctx, func(ctx context.Context, s scope.Scope) error {
-		return t.tick.Iter(ctx, func(ctx context.Context, mti utils.Option[timeoutInfo]) error {
-			ti, ok := mti.Get()
+		s.Spawn(func() error {
+			// Task measuring timeouts.
+			return t.tick.Iter(ctx, func(ctx context.Context, mti utils.Option[timeoutInfo]) error {
+				ti, ok := mti.Get()
+				if !ok {
+					return nil
+				}
+				t.logger.Debug("Internal state machine timeout scheduled", "duration", ti.Duration, "height", ti.Height, "round", ti.Round, "step", ti.Step)
+				if err := utils.Sleep(ctx, ti.Duration); err != nil {
+					return err
+				}
+				t.logger.Debug("Internal state machine timeout elapsed ", "duration", ti.Duration, "height", ti.Height, "round", ti.Round, "step", ti.Step)
+				tock.Store(utils.Some(ti))
+				return nil
+			})
+		})
+		// Task reporting timeouts via channel.
+		// TODO(gprusak): it would be better to expose t.tock directly,
+		// however the receiving task doesn't support receiving from AtomicWatch yet.
+		return tock.Iter(ctx, func(ctx context.Context, mto utils.Option[timeoutInfo]) error {
+			to, ok := mto.Get()
 			if !ok {
 				return nil
 			}
-			t.logger.Debug("Internal state machine timeout scheduled", "duration", ti.Duration, "height", ti.Height, "round", ti.Round, "step", ti.Step)
-			if err := utils.Sleep(ctx, ti.Duration); err != nil {
-				return err
-			}
-			t.logger.Debug("Internal state machine timeout elapsed ", "duration", ti.Duration, "height", ti.Height, "round", ti.Round, "step", ti.Step)
-			s.Spawn(func() error { return utils.Send(ctx, t.tockChan, ti) })
-			return nil
+			return utils.Send(ctx, t.tockChan, to)
 		})
 	})
 }
diff --git a/sei-tendermint/internal/consensus/ticker_test.go b/sei-tendermint/internal/consensus/ticker_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..867c96cd2f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sei-tendermint/internal/consensus/ticker_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+package consensus
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"fmt"
+	"github.com/tendermint/tendermint/libs/log"
+	"github.com/tendermint/tendermint/libs/utils"
+	"github.com/tendermint/tendermint/libs/utils/scope"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+)
+
+func TestTicker(t *testing.T) {
+	err := scope.Run(t.Context(), func(ctx context.Context, s scope.Scope) error {
+		logger, _ := log.NewDefaultLogger("plain", "debug")
+		ticker := NewTimeoutTicker(logger)
+		ch := ticker.Chan()
+		s.SpawnBg(func() error {
+			err := ticker.Run(ctx)
+			if ctx.Err() == nil {
+				return fmt.Errorf("ticker terminated with %v, before the test ended", err)
+			}
+			return utils.IgnoreCancel(err)
+		})
+		if got := len(ch); got > 0 {
+			return fmt.Errorf("expected empty, got len=%v", got)
+		}
+
+		t.Log("Fill the channel.")
+		h := int64(0)
+		for h < int64(cap(ch)) {
+			h += 1
+			ticker.ScheduleTimeout(timeoutInfo{Height: h, Duration: 0})
+			for len(ch) < int(h) {
+				if err := utils.Sleep(ctx, 10*time.Millisecond); err != nil {
+					return err
+				}
+			}
+		}
+		t.Log("Add a bunch of timeouts blindly.")
+		for range 3 {
+			h += 1
+			ticker.ScheduleTimeout(timeoutInfo{Height: h, Duration: 0})
+			if err := utils.Sleep(ctx, 100*time.Millisecond); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+		}
+		t.Log("Await the latest timeout")
+		for {
+			got, err := utils.Recv(ctx, ch)
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+			if got.Height == h {
+				return nil
+			}
+		}
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/sei-tendermint/libs/service/service.go b/sei-tendermint/libs/service/service.go
index c96b32046b..c6e3185330 100644
--- a/sei-tendermint/libs/service/service.go
+++ b/sei-tendermint/libs/service/service.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package service
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"github.com/tendermint/tendermint/libs/log"
 	"github.com/tendermint/tendermint/libs/utils"
@@ -165,6 +166,10 @@ func (bs *BaseService) Spawn(name string, task func(ctx context.Context) error)
 	}()
 }
 
+// Spawns a critical task which should run until success OR as long as the service is running.
+// It panics in any of the following cases:
+// * task returns context.Canceled BEFORE the service is canceled.
+// * task returns an error other than context.Canceled.
 func (bs *BaseService) SpawnCritical(name string, task func(ctx context.Context) error) {
 	inner := bs.inner.Load()
 	if inner == nil {
@@ -174,8 +179,10 @@ func (bs *BaseService) SpawnCritical(name string, task func(ctx context.Context)
 	inner.wg.Add(1)
 	go func() {
 		defer inner.wg.Done()
-		if err := utils.IgnoreCancel(task(inner.ctx)); err != nil {
-			panic(fmt.Sprintf("critical task failed: name=%v, service=%v: %v", name, bs.name, err))
+		if err := task(inner.ctx); err != nil {
+			if !errors.Is(err, context.Canceled) || inner.ctx.Err() == nil {
+				panic(fmt.Sprintf("critical task failed: name=%v, service=%v: %v", name, bs.name, err))
+			}
 		}
 	}()
 }