diff --git a/common-tools/clas-detector/src/main/java/org/jlab/detector/decode/CLASDecoder.java b/common-tools/clas-detector/src/main/java/org/jlab/detector/decode/CLASDecoder.java
index 3eb66b58a9..667d8ab586 100644
--- a/common-tools/clas-detector/src/main/java/org/jlab/detector/decode/CLASDecoder.java
+++ b/common-tools/clas-detector/src/main/java/org/jlab/detector/decode/CLASDecoder.java
@@ -744,9 +744,9 @@ public void initEvent(DataEvent event){
                     }
 
                     int runNumberCoda = codaDecoder.getRunNumber();
-                    this.setRunNumber(runNumberCoda);
                   
                     if (runNumberCoda > 0) {
+                        this.setRunNumber(runNumberCoda);
                         detectorDecoder.translate(dataList);
                         detectorDecoder.fitPulses(dataList);
                         detectorDecoder.filterTDCs(dataList);