diff --git a/app/lib/request_pool.rb b/app/lib/request_pool.rb
index 6be1722860e089bca39b61442a561bb292f7468b..86c825498db052ebbb9c05636fefef39b3745883 100644
--- a/app/lib/request_pool.rb
+++ b/app/lib/request_pool.rb
@@ -28,8 +28,9 @@ class RequestPool
   end
 
   MAX_IDLE_TIME = 30
-  WAIT_TIMEOUT  = 5
   MAX_POOL_SIZE = ENV.fetch('MAX_REQUEST_POOL_SIZE', 512).to_i
+  REAPER_FREQUENCY = 30
+  WAIT_TIMEOUT = 5
 
   class Connection
     attr_reader :site, :last_used_at, :created_at, :in_use, :dead, :fresh
@@ -98,7 +99,7 @@ class RequestPool
 
   def initialize
     @pool   = ConnectionPool::SharedConnectionPool.new(size: MAX_POOL_SIZE, timeout: WAIT_TIMEOUT) { |site| Connection.new(site) }
-    @reaper = Reaper.new(self, 30)
+    @reaper = Reaper.new(self, REAPER_FREQUENCY)
     @reaper.run
   end
 
diff --git a/spec/lib/request_pool_spec.rb b/spec/lib/request_pool_spec.rb
index 395268fe43cf08d24c090e0cf9ee4c7fd7d5b8d0..f179e6ca94a079e08fa983ab2b235c460d668cfa 100644
--- a/spec/lib/request_pool_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/lib/request_pool_spec.rb
@@ -48,16 +48,25 @@ describe RequestPool do
       expect(subject.size).to be > 1
     end
 
-    it 'closes idle connections' do
-      stub_request(:get, 'http://example.com/').to_return(status: 200, body: 'Hello!')
+    context 'with an idle connection' do
+      before do
+        stub_const('RequestPool::MAX_IDLE_TIME', 1) # Lower idle time limit to 1 seconds
+        stub_const('RequestPool::REAPER_FREQUENCY', 0.1) # Run reaper every 0.1 seconds
+        stub_request(:get, 'http://example.com/').to_return(status: 200, body: 'Hello!')
+      end
 
-      subject.with('http://example.com') do |http_client|
-        http_client.get('/').flush
+      it 'closes the connections' do
+        subject.with('http://example.com') do |http_client|
+          http_client.get('/').flush
+        end
+
+        expect { reaper_observes_idle_timeout }.to change(subject, :size).from(1).to(0)
       end
 
-      expect(subject.size).to eq 1
-      sleep RequestPool::MAX_IDLE_TIME + 30 + 1
-      expect(subject.size).to eq 0
+      def reaper_observes_idle_timeout
+        # One full idle period and 2 reaper cycles more
+        sleep RequestPool::MAX_IDLE_TIME + (RequestPool::REAPER_FREQUENCY * 2)
+      end
     end
   end
 end