diff --git a/base/reduce.jl b/base/reduce.jl
index f7558d11b21be..f0ae3f055019f 100644
--- a/base/reduce.jl
+++ b/base/reduce.jl
@@ -428,6 +428,6 @@ function count(pred::Union(Function,Func{1}), a::AbstractArray)
 end
 
 immutable NotEqZero <: Func{1} end
-call(::NotEqZero, x) = x != 0
+call(::NotEqZero, x) = x != zero(x)
 
 countnz(a) = count(NotEqZero(), a)
diff --git a/base/sparse/csparse.jl b/base/sparse/csparse.jl
index 4794e3c511b13..7b0b5e7312f21 100644
--- a/base/sparse/csparse.jl
+++ b/base/sparse/csparse.jl
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ function sparse{Tv,Ti<:Integer}(I::AbstractVector{Ti}, J::AbstractVector{Ti},
     Rnz[1] = 1
     nz = 0
     for k=1:N
-        if V[k] != 0
+        if V[k] != zero(Tv)
             Rnz[I[k]+1] += 1
             nz += 1
         end
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ function sparse{Tv,Ti<:Integer}(I::AbstractVector{Ti}, J::AbstractVector{Ti},
         ((iind > 0) && (jind > 0)) || throw(BoundsError())
         p = Wj[iind]
         Vk = V[k]
-        if Vk != 0
+        if Vk != zero(Tv)
             Wj[iind] += 1
             Rx[p] = Vk
             Ri[p] = jind
diff --git a/base/sparse/sparsematrix.jl b/base/sparse/sparsematrix.jl
index 5279bf04ab0b8..a4a642f6bd4c3 100644
--- a/base/sparse/sparsematrix.jl
+++ b/base/sparse/sparsematrix.jl
@@ -314,7 +314,7 @@ function findn{Tv,Ti}(S::SparseMatrixCSC{Tv,Ti})
 
     count = 1
     @inbounds for col = 1 : S.n, k = S.colptr[col] : (S.colptr[col+1]-1)
-        if S.nzval[k] != 0
+        if S.nzval[k] != zero(Tv)
             I[count] = S.rowval[k]
             J[count] = col
             count += 1
@@ -338,7 +338,7 @@ function findnz{Tv,Ti}(S::SparseMatrixCSC{Tv,Ti})
 
     count = 1
     @inbounds for col = 1 : S.n, k = S.colptr[col] : (S.colptr[col+1]-1)
-        if S.nzval[k] != 0
+        if S.nzval[k] != zero(Tv)
             I[count] = S.rowval[k]
             J[count] = col
             V[count] = S.nzval[k]
@@ -1224,7 +1224,7 @@ function setindex!{T,Ti}(A::SparseMatrixCSC{T,Ti}, v, i0::Integer, i1::Integer)
     v = convert(T, v)
     r1 = int(A.colptr[i1])
     r2 = int(A.colptr[i1+1]-1)
-    if v == 0 #either do nothing or delete entry if it exists
+    if v == zero(T) #either do nothing or delete entry if it exists
         if r1 <= r2
             r1 = searchsortedfirst(A.rowval, i0, r1, r2, Forward)
             if (r1 <= r2) && (A.rowval[r1] == i0)
diff --git a/test/sparse.jl b/test/sparse.jl
index f03efcf4a4944..dc7d0977ea53f 100644
--- a/test/sparse.jl
+++ b/test/sparse.jl
@@ -472,3 +472,20 @@ end
 # issue #8976
 @test conj(sparse([1im])) == sparse(conj([1im]))
 @test conj!(sparse([1im])) == sparse(conj!([1im]))
+
+# Test proper handling of zeros for user types
+immutable SpTestVal
+    value::Float64
+end
+(==)(x::SpTestVal,y::SpTestVal) = (x.value == y.value)
+Base.zero(x::SpTestVal) = SpTestVal(0)
+Base.zero(::Type{SpTestVal}) = SpTestVal(0)
+A = sparse([1,2,3],[1,2,3],[SpTestVal(1),SpTestVal(0),SpTestVal(3)])
+@test nnz(A) == 2  # zeros should be stripped by sparse
+A[2,2] = SpTestVal(0)
+@test nnz(A) == 2  # zeros should be stripped by setindex
+A = SparseMatrixCSC(3,3,[1,2,3,4],[1,2,3],
+        [SpTestVal(1.0),SpTestVal(0.0),SpTestVal(3.0)])
+@test countnz(A) == 2
+r,c,v = findnz(A)
+@test length(r) == length(c) == length(v) == 2
\ No newline at end of file