diff --git a/src/sage/lfunctions/sympow.py b/src/sage/lfunctions/sympow.py
index 1640ac4f6a..03578be7b8 100644
--- a/src/sage/lfunctions/sympow.py
+++ b/src/sage/lfunctions/sympow.py
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ from __future__ import print_function, absolute_import
 
 import os
 
+from sage.env import DOT_SAGE
 from sage.structure.sage_object import SageObject
 from sage.misc.all import pager, verbose
 import sage.rings.all
@@ -76,7 +77,7 @@ class Sympow(SageObject):
         """
         Used to call sympow with given args
         """
-        cmd = 'sympow %s'%args
+        cmd = 'env SYMPOW_CACHEDIR="%s/sympow///" sympow %s' % (DOT_SAGE, args)
         v = os.popen(cmd).read().strip()
         verbose(v, level=2)
         return v