Methods and systems for detecting and recovering from control instability caused by impeller stall in a chiller system are provided. In one embodiment, an impeller stall detection and recovery component of a chiller control unit calculates a control error signal frequency spectrum for an evaporator leaving water temperature, determines whether a high frequency signal content of the control error signal frequency spectrum exceeds acceptable limits, and adjusts a surge boundary control curve downward by a predetermined incremental value in order to resolve instability caused by impeller stall.