diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 2cfc0df66b46..08ffd596dbdf 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -36,6 +36,8 @@
 - [[PR 1004]](https://github.com/parthenon-hpc-lab/parthenon/pull/1004) Allow parameter modification from an input file for restarts
 
 ### Fixed (not changing behavior/API/variables/...)
+- [[PR 1150]](https://github.com/parthenon-hpc-lab/parthenon/pull/1150) Reduce memory consumption for buffer pool
+- [[PR 1146]](https://github.com/parthenon-hpc-lab/parthenon/pull/1146) Fix an issue outputting >4GB single variables per rank
 - [[PR 1152]](https://github.com/parthenon-hpc-lab/parthenon/pull/1152) Fix memory leak in task graph outputs related to `abi::__cxa_demangle`
 - [[PR 1146]](https://github.com/parthenon-hpc-lab/parthenon/pull/1146) Fix an issue outputting >4GB single variables per rank
 - [[PR 1144]](https://github.com/parthenon-hpc-lab/parthenon/pull/1144) Fix some restarts w/non-CC fields
diff --git a/src/bvals/comms/bnd_info.cpp b/src/bvals/comms/bnd_info.cpp
index d30522fd6998..1505b56f956a 100644
--- a/src/bvals/comms/bnd_info.cpp
+++ b/src/bvals/comms/bnd_info.cpp
@@ -332,7 +332,7 @@ BndInfo BndInfo::GetSetBndInfo(MeshBlock *pmb, const NeighborBlock &nb,
     out.buf_allocated = false;
   } else {
     printf("%i [rank: %i] -> %i [rank: %i] (Set %s) is in state %i.\n", nb.gid, nb.rank,
-           pmb->gid, Globals::my_rank, v->label().c_str(), buf_state);
+           pmb->gid, Globals::my_rank, v->label().c_str(), static_cast<int>(buf_state));
     PARTHENON_FAIL("Buffer should be in a received state.");
   }
   return out;
diff --git a/src/bvals/comms/build_boundary_buffers.cpp b/src/bvals/comms/build_boundary_buffers.cpp
index 918f4d5017c2..aac532d037e6 100644
--- a/src/bvals/comms/build_boundary_buffers.cpp
+++ b/src/bvals/comms/build_boundary_buffers.cpp
@@ -16,10 +16,12 @@
 //========================================================================================
 
 #include <algorithm>
+#include <cstddef>
 #include <iostream> // debug
 #include <memory>
 #include <random>
 #include <string>
+#include <unordered_map>
 #include <vector>
 
 #include "bvals_in_one.hpp"
@@ -44,25 +46,58 @@ template <BoundaryType BTYPE>
 void BuildBoundaryBufferSubset(std::shared_ptr<MeshData<Real>> &md,
                                Mesh::comm_buf_map_t &buf_map) {
   Mesh *pmesh = md->GetMeshPointer();
+  std::unordered_map<int, int>
+      nbufs; // total (existing and new) number of buffers for given size
+
+  ForEachBoundary<BTYPE>(md, [&](auto pmb, sp_mbd_t /*rc*/, nb_t &nb, const sp_cv_t v) {
+    // Calculate the required size of the buffer for this boundary
+    int buf_size = GetBufferSize(pmb, nb, v);
+    //  LR: Multigrid logic requires blocks sending messages to themselves (since the same
+    //  block can show up on two multigrid levels). This doesn't require any data
+    //  transfer, so the message size can be zero. It is essentially just a flag to show
+    //  that the block is done being used on one level and can be used on the next level.
+    if (pmb->gid == nb.gid && nb.offsets.IsCell()) buf_size = 0;
+
+    nbufs[buf_size] += 1; // relying on value init of int to 0 for initial entry
+  });
+
   ForEachBoundary<BTYPE>(md, [&](auto pmb, sp_mbd_t /*rc*/, nb_t &nb, const sp_cv_t v) {
     // Calculate the required size of the buffer for this boundary
     int buf_size = GetBufferSize(pmb, nb, v);
+    // See comment above on the same logic.
     if (pmb->gid == nb.gid && nb.offsets.IsCell()) buf_size = 0;
 
     // Add a buffer pool if one does not exist for this size
+    using buf_t = buf_pool_t<Real>::base_t;
     if (pmesh->pool_map.count(buf_size) == 0) {
-      pmesh->pool_map.emplace(std::make_pair(
-          buf_size, buf_pool_t<Real>([buf_size](buf_pool_t<Real> *pool) {
-            using buf_t = buf_pool_t<Real>::base_t;
-            // TODO(LFR): Make nbuf a user settable parameter
-            const int nbuf = 200;
-            buf_t chunk("pool buffer", buf_size * nbuf);
+      // Might be worth discussing what a good default is.
+      // Using the number of packs, assumes that all blocks in a pack have fairly similar
+      // buffer configurations, which may or may not be a good approximation.
+      // An alternative would be "1", which would reduce the memory footprint, but
+      // increase the number of individual memory allocations.
+      const int64_t nbuf = pmesh->DefaultNumPartitions();
+      pmesh->pool_map.emplace(
+          buf_size, buf_pool_t<Real>([buf_size, nbuf](buf_pool_t<Real> *pool) {
+            const auto pool_size = nbuf * buf_size;
+            buf_t chunk("pool buffer", pool_size);
             for (int i = 1; i < nbuf; ++i) {
               pool->AddFreeObjectToPool(
                   buf_t(chunk, std::make_pair(i * buf_size, (i + 1) * buf_size)));
             }
             return buf_t(chunk, std::make_pair(0, buf_size));
-          })));
+          }));
+    }
+    // Now that the pool is guaranteed to exist we can add free objects of the required
+    // amount.
+    auto &pool = pmesh->pool_map.at(buf_size);
+    const std::int64_t new_buffers_req = nbufs.at(buf_size) - pool.NumBuffersInPool();
+    if (new_buffers_req > 0) {
+      const auto pool_size = new_buffers_req * buf_size;
+      buf_t chunk("pool buffer", pool_size);
+      for (int i = 0; i < new_buffers_req; ++i) {
+        pool.AddFreeObjectToPool(
+            buf_t(chunk, std::make_pair(i * buf_size, (i + 1) * buf_size)));
+      }
     }
 
     const int receiver_rank = nb.rank;
diff --git a/src/utils/object_pool.hpp b/src/utils/object_pool.hpp
index 89167334277f..c7452499f126 100644
--- a/src/utils/object_pool.hpp
+++ b/src/utils/object_pool.hpp
@@ -62,6 +62,8 @@ class ObjectPool {
     std::cout << inuse_.size() << " used objects." << std::endl;
   }
 
+  auto NumBuffersInPool() const { return inuse_.size() + available_.size(); }
+
   std::uint64_t SizeInBytes() const {
     constexpr std::uint64_t datum_size = sizeof(typename base_t::value_type);
     std::uint64_t object_size = 0;