diff --git a/bin/pt-heartbeat b/bin/pt-heartbeat
index 2bae5904..0ea81008 100755
--- a/bin/pt-heartbeat
+++ b/bin/pt-heartbeat
@@ -5749,33 +5749,6 @@ sub main {
                     :         $dsn_defaults;
    my $dbh          = $dp->get_dbh($dp->get_cxn_params($dsn), {AutoCommit=>1});
 
-   # we need binlog_format = STATEMENT for this session
-   # note that ROW is the default format in 5.7+
-   if ( VersionParser->new($dbh) >= '5.1.5' ) {
-      my $sql = 'SELECT @@binlog_format';
-      PTDEBUG && _d($dbh, $sql);
-      my ($original_binlog_format) = $dbh->selectrow_array($sql);
-      PTDEBUG && _d('Original binlog_format:', $original_binlog_format);
-      if ( $original_binlog_format !~ /STATEMENT/i ) {
-         $sql = q{/*!50108 SET @@binlog_format = 'STATEMENT'*/};
-         eval {
-            PTDEBUG && _d($dbh, $sql);
-            $dbh->do($sql);
-         };
-         if ( $EVAL_ERROR ) {
-            die "Failed to $sql: $EVAL_ERROR\n"
-               . "This tool requires binlog_format=STATEMENT, "
-               . "but the current binlog_format is set to "
-               ."$original_binlog_format and an error occurred while "
-               . "attempting to change it.  If running MySQL 5.1.29 or newer, "
-               . "setting binlog_format requires the SUPER privilege.  "
-               . "You will need to manually set binlog_format to 'STATEMENT' "
-               . "before running this tool.\n";
-         }
-      }
-   }
- 
-
    $dbh->{InactiveDestroy}  = 1; # Don't disconnect on fork
    $dbh->{FetchHashKeyName} = 'NAME_lc';
    $dbh->do("USE `$db`");
@@ -5818,20 +5791,34 @@ sub main {
       $sql =~ s/heartbeat/IF NOT EXISTS $db_tbl/;
       PTDEBUG && _d($sql);
       $dbh->do($sql);
+     
+      # Now we insert first row.
+      # Some caveats:
 
-      $sql = ($o->get('replace') ? "REPLACE" : "INSERT")
-           . qq/ INTO $db_tbl (ts, server_id) VALUES ($now_func, $server_id)/;
-      PTDEBUG && _d($sql);
+      # 1)
       # This may fail if the table already existed and already had this row.
       # We eval to ignore this possibility.
       # NOTE: This can break replication though!  See:
       # https://bugs.launchpad.net/percona-toolkit/+bug/1004567
       # So --replace should be used in most cases.
-      #
-      # Addendum: binlog_format = ROW makes both REPLACE and INSERT fail in 
-      # Perl's DBI in this cirumstance. Until this is fixed we have to 
-      # attempt to change binlog_row to STATEMENT at the start of the run
-      eval { $dbh->do($sql); };
+      my $sql_insert_row = ($o->get('replace') ? "REPLACE" : "INSERT")
+           . qq/ INTO $db_tbl (ts, server_id) VALUES ($now_func, $server_id)/;
+
+      # 2)
+      # RBR (Row Based Replication) converts REPLACE to INSERT if row isn't 
+      # present in master. This breakes replication when the row is present in slave.
+      # Other workarounds also fail. 
+      #     INSERT IGNORE (ignore is not replicated if no error in master)
+      #     DELETE then INSERT (DELETE is ignored, INSERT breaks replication) 
+      #     INSERT ON DUPLICATE UPDATE (converts to simple INSERT)
+      # TRUNCATE gets trough and replicates! So we use that to wipe slave(s). 
+      if ($o->get('replace')) {
+         my $sql_truncate = "TRUNCATE TABLE $db_tbl";
+         PTDEBUG && _d($sql_truncate);
+         eval { $dbh->do($sql_truncate) };
+      }   
+      PTDEBUG && _d($sql_insert_row);
+      eval { $dbh->do($sql_insert_row); };
    }
 
    # ########################################################################