diff --git a/geowebcache/core/src/main/java/org/geowebcache/layer/wms/WMSHttpHelper.java b/geowebcache/core/src/main/java/org/geowebcache/layer/wms/WMSHttpHelper.java
index 58fa3b66c..efe90b1ee 100644
--- a/geowebcache/core/src/main/java/org/geowebcache/layer/wms/WMSHttpHelper.java
+++ b/geowebcache/core/src/main/java/org/geowebcache/layer/wms/WMSHttpHelper.java
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpRequestBase;
 import org.apache.http.entity.StringEntity;
 import org.apache.http.message.BasicNameValuePair;
+import org.apache.http.util.EntityUtils;
 import org.geotools.util.logging.Logging;
 import org.geowebcache.GeoWebCacheException;
 import org.geowebcache.io.Resource;
@@ -199,6 +200,12 @@ private void connectAndCheckHeaders(
         tileRespRecv.setStatus(responseCode);
         if (responseCode != 200 && responseCode != 204) {
             tileRespRecv.setError();
+            try {
+                log.fine("Try release connection through an error");
+                EntityUtils.consume(method.getEntity());
+            } catch (IOException ex) {
+                log.log(Level.WARNING, "failed to release connection");
+            }
             throw new ServiceException(
                     "Unexpected response code from backend: "
                             + responseCode
diff --git a/geowebcache/core/src/main/java/org/geowebcache/util/HttpClientBuilder.java b/geowebcache/core/src/main/java/org/geowebcache/util/HttpClientBuilder.java
index 8045bda57..920d618ed 100644
--- a/geowebcache/core/src/main/java/org/geowebcache/util/HttpClientBuilder.java
+++ b/geowebcache/core/src/main/java/org/geowebcache/util/HttpClientBuilder.java
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@ public HttpClientBuilder(
         clientBuilder = org.apache.http.impl.client.HttpClientBuilder.create();
         clientBuilder.useSystemProperties();
         clientBuilder.setConnectionManager(connectionManager);
+        clientBuilder.setDefaultRequestConfig(getConnectionConfig());
         clientBuilder.setMaxConnTotal(concurrency);
     }