diff --git a/lib/defaults.js b/lib/defaults.js
index 52b30896..e60c7437 100644
--- a/lib/defaults.js
+++ b/lib/defaults.js
@@ -12,5 +12,7 @@ module.exports = {
   rows: 0,
   //number of connections to use in connection pool
   //0 will disable connection pooling
-  poolSize: 10
+  poolSize: 10,
+  //duration of node-pool timeout
+  poolIdleTimeout: 30000
 }
diff --git a/lib/index.js b/lib/index.js
index 2991b58d..f134aca2 100644
--- a/lib/index.js
+++ b/lib/index.js
@@ -42,7 +42,8 @@ var makeConnectFunction = function(ClientConstructor) {
       destroy: function(client) {
         client.end();
       },
-      max: defaults.poolSize
+      max: defaults.poolSize,
+      idleTimeoutMillis: defaults.poolIdleTimeout
     });
     return pool.acquire(cb);
   }
diff --git a/test/integration/connection-pool/idle-timeout-tests.js b/test/integration/connection-pool/idle-timeout-tests.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..342442e2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/integration/connection-pool/idle-timeout-tests.js
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+var helper = require(__dirname + '/test-helper');
+
+helper.pg.defaults.poolIdleTimeout = 200;
+
+test('idle timeout', function() {
+ helper.pg.connect(helper.connectionString(), assert.calls(function(err, client) {
+   assert.isNull(err);
+   client.query('SELECT NOW()');
+  //just let this one time out 
+  //test will hang if pool doesn't timeout
+ }));
+});
diff --git a/test/integration/connection-pool/unique-name-tests.js b/test/integration/connection-pool/unique-name-tests.js
index a95bce49..84dda439 100644
--- a/test/integration/connection-pool/unique-name-tests.js
+++ b/test/integration/connection-pool/unique-name-tests.js
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ helper.pg.defaults.password = helper.args.password;
 helper.pg.defaults.database = helper.args.database;
 helper.pg.defaults.port = helper.args.port;
 helper.pg.defaults.host = helper.args.host;
-
+helper.pg.defaults.poolIdleTimeout = 100;
 var args = {
   user: helper.args.user,
   password: helper.args.password,