diff --git a/base/sparse/higherorderfns.jl b/base/sparse/higherorderfns.jl
index 858d4527fdb49..e4fa8b7613ea6 100644
--- a/base/sparse/higherorderfns.jl
+++ b/base/sparse/higherorderfns.jl
@@ -582,7 +582,7 @@ function _broadcast_zeropres!{Tf}(f::Tf, C::SparseVecOrMat, A::SparseVecOrMat, B
             Bk, stopBk = numcols(B) == 1 ? (colstartind(B, 1), colboundind(B, 1)) : (colstartind(B, j), colboundind(B, j))
             Ax = Ak < stopAk ? storedvals(A)[Ak] : zero(eltype(A))
             fvAzB = f(Ax, zero(eltype(B)))
-            if fvAzB == zero(eltype(C))
+            if _iszero(fvAzB)
                 # either A's jth column is empty, or A's jth column contains a nonzero value
                 # Ax but f(Ax, zero(eltype(B))) is nonetheless zero, so we can scan through
                 # B's jth column without storing every entry in C's jth column
@@ -623,7 +623,7 @@ function _broadcast_zeropres!{Tf}(f::Tf, C::SparseVecOrMat, A::SparseVecOrMat, B
             Bk, stopBk = numcols(B) == 1 ? (colstartind(B, 1), colboundind(B, 1)) : (colstartind(B, j), colboundind(B, j))
             Bx = Bk < stopBk ? storedvals(B)[Bk] : zero(eltype(B))
             fzAvB = f(zero(eltype(A)), Bx)
-            if fzAvB == zero(eltype(C))
+            if _iszero(fzAvB)
                 # either B's jth column is empty, or B's jth column contains a nonzero value
                 # Bx but f(zero(eltype(A)), Bx) is nonetheless zero, so we can scan through
                 # A's jth column without storing every entry in C's jth column
@@ -701,7 +701,7 @@ function _broadcast_notzeropres!{Tf}(f::Tf, fillvalue, C::SparseVecOrMat, A::Spa
             Bk, stopBk = numcols(B) == 1 ? (colstartind(B, 1), colboundind(B, 1)) : (colstartind(B, j), colboundind(B, j))
             Ax = Ak < stopAk ? storedvals(A)[Ak] : zero(eltype(A))
             fvAzB = f(Ax, zero(eltype(B)))
-            if fvAzB == zero(eltype(C))
+            if _iszero(fvAzB)
                 while Bk < stopBk
                     Cx = f(Ax, storedvals(B)[Bk])
                     Cx != fillvalue && (storedvals(C)[jo + storedinds(B)[Bk]] = Cx)
@@ -726,7 +726,7 @@ function _broadcast_notzeropres!{Tf}(f::Tf, fillvalue, C::SparseVecOrMat, A::Spa
             Bk, stopBk = numcols(B) == 1 ? (colstartind(B, 1), colboundind(B, 1)) : (colstartind(B, j), colboundind(B, j))
             Bx = Bk < stopBk ? storedvals(B)[Bk] : zero(eltype(B))
             fzAvB = f(zero(eltype(A)), Bx)
-            if fzAvB == zero(eltype(C))
+            if _iszero(fzAvB)
                 while Ak < stopAk
                     Cx = f(storedvals(A)[Ak], Bx)
                     Cx != fillvalue && (storedvals(C)[jo + storedinds(A)[Ak]] = Cx)
@@ -771,7 +771,7 @@ function _broadcast_zeropres!{Tf,N}(f::Tf, C::SparseVecOrMat, As::Vararg{SparseV
         rows = _initrowforcol_all(j, rowsentinel, isemptys, expandsverts, ks, As)
         defaultCx = f(defargs...)
         activerow = min(rows...)
-        if defaultCx == zero(eltype(C)) # zero-preserving column scan
+        if _iszero(defaultCx) # zero-preserving column scan
             while activerow < rowsentinel
                 # activerows = _isactiverow_all(activerow, rows)
                 # Cx = f(_gatherbcargs(activerows, defargs, ks, As)...)
diff --git a/test/sparse/higherorderfns.jl b/test/sparse/higherorderfns.jl
index a8589f205ade6..591b86ad4bdc3 100644
--- a/test/sparse/higherorderfns.jl
+++ b/test/sparse/higherorderfns.jl
@@ -265,14 +265,24 @@ end
     end
 end
 
-
 @testset "sparse map/broadcast with result eltype not a concrete subtype of Number (#19561/#19589)" begin
-    intoneorfloatzero(x) = x != 0.0 ? Int(1) : Float64(x)
-    stringorfloatzero(x) = x != 0.0 ? "Hello" : Float64(x)
-    @test map(intoneorfloatzero, speye(4)) == sparse(map(intoneorfloatzero, eye(4)))
-    @test map(stringorfloatzero, speye(4)) == sparse(map(stringorfloatzero, eye(4)))
-    @test broadcast(intoneorfloatzero, speye(4)) == sparse(broadcast(intoneorfloatzero, eye(4)))
-    @test broadcast(stringorfloatzero, speye(4)) == sparse(broadcast(stringorfloatzero, eye(4)))
+    N = 4
+    A, fA = speye(N), eye(N)
+    B, fB = spzeros(1, N), zeros(1, N)
+    intorfloat_zeropres(xs...) = all(iszero, xs) ? zero(Float64) : Int(1)
+    stringorfloat_zeropres(xs...) = all(iszero, xs) ? zero(Float64) : "hello"
+    intorfloat_notzeropres(xs...) = all(iszero, xs) ? Int(1) : zero(Float64)
+    stringorfloat_notzeropres(xs...) = all(iszero, xs) ? "hello" : zero(Float64)
+    for fn in (intorfloat_zeropres, intorfloat_notzeropres,
+                stringorfloat_zeropres, stringorfloat_notzeropres)
+        @test map(fn, A) == sparse(map(fn, fA))
+        @test broadcast(fn, A) == sparse(broadcast(fn, fA))
+        @test broadcast(fn, A, B) == sparse(broadcast(fn, fA, fB))
+        @test broadcast(fn, B, A) == sparse(broadcast(fn, fB, fA))
+    end
+    for fn in (intorfloat_zeropres, stringorfloat_zeropres)
+        @test broadcast(fn, A, B, A) == sparse(broadcast(fn, fA, fB, fA))
+    end
 end
 
 @testset "broadcast[!] over combinations of scalars and sparse vectors/matrices" begin