diff --git a/etc/ironic/ironic.conf.sample b/etc/ironic/ironic.conf.sample
index 42d9b40dc1..bc38835b52 100644
--- a/etc/ironic/ironic.conf.sample
+++ b/etc/ironic/ironic.conf.sample
@@ -516,12 +516,10 @@
 # driver that node is managed by; see the individual driver's
 # documentation for details. NOTE: The introduction of the
 # cleaning operation causes instance deletion to take
-# significantly longer. While this provides a better and more
-# secure user experience, it does impact the service behavior,
-# and as such IS DISABLED BY DEFAULT until consuming services
-# (eg, Nova) have been updated to accommodate the additional
-# time for deletion. (boolean value)
-#clean_nodes=false
+# significantly longer. In an environment where all tenants
+# are trusted (eg, because there is only one tenant), this
+# option could be safely disabled. (boolean value)
+#clean_nodes=true
 
 
 [console]
diff --git a/ironic/conductor/manager.py b/ironic/conductor/manager.py
index f437f573fd..3322741ab4 100644
--- a/ironic/conductor/manager.py
+++ b/ironic/conductor/manager.py
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ conductor_opts = [
                    help='Timeout (seconds) for waiting for node inspection. '
                         '0 - unlimited.'),
         cfg.BoolOpt('clean_nodes',
-                    default=False,
+                    default=True,
                     help='Cleaning is a configurable set of steps, such as '
                          'erasing disk drives, that are performed on the node '
                          'to ensure it is in a baseline state and ready to be '
@@ -182,11 +182,9 @@ conductor_opts = [
                          'driver\'s documentation for details. '
                          'NOTE: The introduction of the cleaning operation '
                          'causes instance deletion to take significantly '
-                         'longer. While this provides a better and more '
-                         'secure user experience, it does impact the service '
-                         'behavior, and as such IS DISABLED BY DEFAULT until '
-                         'consuming services (eg, Nova) have been updated to '
-                         'accommodate the additional time for deletion.'),
+                         'longer. In an environment where all tenants are '
+                         'trusted (eg, because there is only one tenant), '
+                         'this option could be safely disabled.'),
 ]
 CONF = cfg.CONF
 CONF.register_opts(conductor_opts, 'conductor')