diff --git a/doc/source/whatsnew/v0.19.1.txt b/doc/source/whatsnew/v0.19.1.txt
index 5180b9a092f6c..1a86ecae2faf3 100644
--- a/doc/source/whatsnew/v0.19.1.txt
+++ b/doc/source/whatsnew/v0.19.1.txt
@@ -48,3 +48,6 @@ Bug Fixes
 - Bug in ``MultiIndex.set_levels`` where illegal level values were still set after raising an error (:issue:`13754`)
 - Bug in ``DataFrame.to_json`` where ``lines=True`` and a value contained a ``}`` character (:issue:`14391`)
 - Bug in ``df.groupby`` causing an ``AttributeError`` when grouping a single index frame by a column and the index level (:issue`14327`)
+- Bug in ``pd.to_numeric`` where it would not downcast a 0 to a uint8 (:issue:`14404`)
+- Bug in ``pd.to_numeric`` where it would not downcast a 0 properly. (:issue:`14401`)
+- Bug in ``pd.to_numeric`` where a 0 was not unsigned on a downcast = 'unsigned' argument (:issue:`14401`)
diff --git a/pandas/tools/tests/test_util.py b/pandas/tools/tests/test_util.py
index 8c16308d79a31..54cfd1dacb87e 100644
--- a/pandas/tools/tests/test_util.py
+++ b/pandas/tools/tests/test_util.py
@@ -401,6 +401,62 @@ def test_downcast(self):
             res = pd.to_numeric(data, downcast=downcast)
             tm.assert_numpy_array_equal(res, expected)
 
+        # check that the smallest and largest values in each integer type pass to each type.
+        integer_dtype_min_max = {
+                'int8': [np.iinfo(np.int8).min, np.iinfo(np.int8).max],
+                'int16': [np.iinfo(np.int16).min, np.iinfo(np.int16).max],
+                'int32': [np.iinfo(np.int32).min, np.iinfo(np.int32).max],
+                'int64': [np.iinfo(np.int64).min, np.iinfo(np.int64).max]
+                }
+
+        for dtype, min_max in integer_dtype_min_max.items(): 
+            series = pd.to_numeric(pd.Series(min_max), downcast = 'integer')
+            tm.assert_equal(series.dtype, dtype)
+
+        
+        unsigned_dtype_min_max = {
+                'uint8': [np.iinfo(np.uint8).min, np.iinfo(np.uint8).max],
+                'uint16': [np.iinfo(np.uint16).min, np.iinfo(np.uint16).max],
+                'uint32': [np.iinfo(np.uint32).min, np.iinfo(np.uint32).max],
+                # 'uint64': [np.iinfo(np.uint64).min, np.iinfo(np.uint64).max]
+                }
+
+        for dtype, min_max in unsigned_dtype_min_max.items():
+            series = pd.to_numeric(pd.Series(min_max), downcast = 'unsigned')
+            tm.assert_equal(series.dtype, dtype)
+
+        #check to see if the minimum number to shift integer types actually shifts
+
+        integer_dtype_min_max_plus = {
+                'int16': [np.iinfo(np.int8).min, np.iinfo(np.int8).max + 1],
+                'int32': [np.iinfo(np.int16).min, np.iinfo(np.int16).max + 1],
+                'int64': [np.iinfo(np.int32).min, np.iinfo(np.int32).max + 1],
+                }
+
+        for dtype, min_max in integer_dtype_min_max_plus.items(): 
+            series = pd.to_numeric(pd.Series(min_max), downcast = 'integer')
+            tm.assert_equal(series.dtype, dtype)
+
+        integer_dtype_min_max_minus = {
+                'int16': [np.iinfo(np.int8).min - 1, np.iinfo(np.int16).max],
+                'int32': [np.iinfo(np.int16).min - 1, np.iinfo(np.int32).max],
+                'int64': [np.iinfo(np.int32).min - 1, np.iinfo(np.int64).max]
+                }
+
+        for dtype, min_max in integer_dtype_min_max_minus.items(): 
+            series = pd.to_numeric(pd.Series(min_max), downcast = 'integer')
+            tm.assert_equal(series.dtype, dtype)
+
+        unsigned_dtype_min_max_plus = {
+                'uint16': [np.iinfo(np.uint8).min, np.iinfo(np.uint8).max + 1],
+                'uint32': [np.iinfo(np.uint16).min, np.iinfo(np.uint16).max + 1],
+                # 'uint64': [np.iinfo(np.uint32).min, np.iinfo(np.uint32).max + 1],
+                }
+
+        for dtype, min_max in unsigned_dtype_min_max_plus.items():
+            series = pd.to_numeric(pd.Series(min_max), downcast = 'unsigned')
+            tm.assert_equal(series.dtype, dtype)
+
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     nose.runmodule(argv=[__file__, '-vvs', '-x', '--pdb', '--pdb-failure'],
                    exit=False)
diff --git a/pandas/tools/util.py b/pandas/tools/util.py
index fec56328c1721..b50bf9dc448bc 100644
--- a/pandas/tools/util.py
+++ b/pandas/tools/util.py
@@ -205,7 +205,7 @@ def to_numeric(arg, errors='raise', downcast=None):
 
         if downcast in ('integer', 'signed'):
             typecodes = np.typecodes['Integer']
-        elif downcast == 'unsigned' and np.min(values) > 0:
+        elif downcast == 'unsigned' and np.min(values) >= 0:
             typecodes = np.typecodes['UnsignedInteger']
         elif downcast == 'float':
             typecodes = np.typecodes['Float']