diff --git a/imperatives/imperatives.go b/imperatives/imperatives.go
index 6c268070..680d5b18 100644
--- a/imperatives/imperatives.go
+++ b/imperatives/imperatives.go
@@ -152,6 +152,7 @@ var errFmtAddDest = errors.New("addDest <routeKey> <dest>") // not implemented y
 var errFmtAddRewriter = errors.New("addRewriter <old> <new> <max>")
 var errFmtModDest = errors.New("modDest <routeKey> <dest> <addr/prefix/sub/regex=>") // one or more can be specified at once
 var errFmtModRoute = errors.New("modRoute <routeKey> <prefix/sub/regex=>")           // one or more can be specified at once
+var errOrgId0 = errors.New("orgId must be a number > 0")
 
 type Table interface {
 	AddAggregator(agg *aggregator.Aggregator)
@@ -527,6 +528,9 @@ func readAddRouteGrafanaNet(s *toki.Scanner, table Table) error {
 				if err != nil {
 					return err
 				}
+				if orgId < 1 {
+					return errOrgId0
+				}
 			} else {
 				return errFmtAddRouteGrafanaNet
 			}
@@ -598,6 +602,9 @@ func readAddRouteKafkaMdm(s *toki.Scanner, table Table) error {
 	if err != nil {
 		return errFmtAddRouteKafkaMdm
 	}
+	if orgId < 1 {
+		return errOrgId0
+	}
 
 	var bufSize = int(1e7)  // since a message is typically around 100B this is 1GB
 	var flushMaxNum = 10000 // number of metrics
diff --git a/route/schemas.go b/route/schemas.go
index 5b548530..65763dfc 100644
--- a/route/schemas.go
+++ b/route/schemas.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package route
 
 import (
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"sort"
 	"strconv"
@@ -23,6 +24,11 @@ func getSchemas(file string) (persister.WhisperSchemas, error) {
 		if len(schema.Retentions) == 0 {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("retention setting cannot be empty")
 		}
+		for _, ret := range schema.Retentions {
+			if ret.SecondsPerPoint() == 0 {
+				return nil, errors.New("cannot have interval 0")
+			}
+		}
 	}
 	if !defaultFound {
 		// good graphite health (not sure what graphite does if there's no .*