diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index f35ada1..6a28c2c 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 {
   "name": "@joshbetz/memcached",
-  "version": "1.2.3",
+  "version": "1.3.0",
   "lockfileVersion": 2,
   "requires": true,
   "packages": {
     "": {
       "name": "@joshbetz/memcached",
-      "version": "1.2.3",
+      "version": "1.3.0",
       "license": "MIT",
       "dependencies": {
         "generic-pool": "^3.9.0",
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 532ee7b..e21091a 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@joshbetz/memcached",
-  "version": "1.2.3",
+  "version": "1.3.0",
   "description": "Memcached client for modern Node JS",
   "main": "build/index.js",
   "types": "build/index.d.ts",
diff --git a/src/hashpool.ts b/src/hashpool.ts
index ccda73d..ff5acb1 100644
--- a/src/hashpool.ts
+++ b/src/hashpool.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ const HashRing = require( 'hashring' );
 
 export type HashPoolOptions = {
 	retry: ( retries: number ) => number;
+	pingInterval: number;
 } & PoolOptions;
 
 type PoolNode = {
@@ -32,6 +33,7 @@ export default class HashPool extends EventEmitter {
 				// exponential backoff up to 30 seconds
 				return Math.min( exp, 30000 );
 			},
+			pingInterval: 60_000,
 
 			// Pool options
 			max: 10,
@@ -51,6 +53,12 @@ export default class HashPool extends EventEmitter {
 		for ( const node of nodes ) {
 			this.connect( node );
 		}
+
+		if ( this.opts.pingInterval > 0 ) {
+			setInterval( () => {
+				this.ping();
+			}, this.opts.pingInterval ).unref();
+		}
 	}
 
 	connect( node: string ) {
diff --git a/test-hashpool.js b/test-hashpool.js
index d14db51..a4d9e69 100644
--- a/test-hashpool.js
+++ b/test-hashpool.js
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ async function sleep( ms ) {
 }
 
 async function main() {
-	const memcached = new HashPool( [ 'localhost:11211', 'localhost:11311' ] );
+	const memcached = new HashPool( [ 'localhost:11211', 'localhost:11311' ], { pingInterval: 1000 } );
 	while ( true ) {
 		try {
 			const key = 'test';