diff --git a/wetb/dlc/high_level.py b/wetb/dlc/high_level.py
index 418de910337dafd4fb557fdb99e75e126d8b1f27..5590e4dfadc8a8b04c92bd0bfb9f1c64401313f1 100644
--- a/wetb/dlc/high_level.py
+++ b/wetb/dlc/high_level.py
@@ -100,6 +100,7 @@ class DLCHighLevel(object):
         self.dlc_df = pd.read_excel(self.filename, sheetname='DLC', skiprows=[1])
         # empty strings are now nans, convert back to empty strings
         self.dlc_df.fillna('', inplace=True)
+        self.dlc_df.fillna('\n', inplace=True)
         # force headers to lower case
         self.dlc_df.columns = [k.lower() for k in self.dlc_df.columns]
         if 'dlc' not in self.dlc_df.columns and 'name' in self.dlc_df.columns:
diff --git a/wetb/dlc/tests/test_files/DLC_test.xlsx b/wetb/dlc/tests/test_files/DLC_test.xlsx
index 5945bc4a9399508b45140e4feaacf7d84caa659c..4aba0b938389d58b792548868320ad922bfc03cf 100644
Binary files a/wetb/dlc/tests/test_files/DLC_test.xlsx and b/wetb/dlc/tests/test_files/DLC_test.xlsx differ
diff --git a/wetb/dlc/tests/test_high_level.py b/wetb/dlc/tests/test_high_level.py
index 473e81bd6d36eb1adc54304b2d75ede8b0413fdc..6aa0988d5a98a47dd584440229f65be0b55be123 100644
--- a/wetb/dlc/tests/test_high_level.py
+++ b/wetb/dlc/tests/test_high_level.py
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@ class TestDLCHighLevel(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_sensor_info_filter(self):
         self.assertEqual(list(self.dlc_hl.sensor_info(['fatigue']).m), [4, 4, 10])
 
-
     def test_fatigue_distribution_pct(self):
         dlc, wsp, wdir = self.dlc_hl.fatigue_distribution()['12']
         self.assertEqual(dlc[12], 0.975)
@@ -46,6 +45,9 @@ class TestDLCHighLevel(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(max(wsp.keys()), 25)
         self.assertEqual(wsp[4], "#1000")
 
+    def test_fatigue_distribution_empty_line(self):
+        self.dlc_hl.dlc_df['load']
+
     def test_file_hour_lst(self):
         f, h = self.dlc_hl.file_hour_lst()[0]
         self.assertEqual(os.path.abspath(f), os.path.abspath(testfilepath + 'res/dlc12_iec61400-1ed3/dlc12_wsp04_wdir350_s3001.sel'))