diff --git a/circus/arbiter.py b/circus/arbiter.py
index d8fc10e52..904d560c0 100644
--- a/circus/arbiter.py
+++ b/circus/arbiter.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import errno
 import logging
 import os
+import gc
 from circus.fixed_threading import Thread, get_ident
 import sys
 from time import sleep
@@ -67,6 +68,9 @@ class Arbiter(object):
       to /dev/null. (default: False)
     - **debug** -- if True, adds a lot of debug info in the stdout (default:
       False)
+    - **debug_gc** -- if True, does gc.set_debug(gc.DEBUG_LEAK) (default:
+      False)
+      to circusd to analyze problems (default: False)
     - **proc_name** -- the arbiter process name
     - **fqdn_prefix** -- a prefix for the unique identifier of the circus
                          instance on the cluster.
@@ -79,7 +83,7 @@ def __init__(self, watchers, endpoint, pubsub_endpoint, check_delay=1.0,
                  multicast_endpoint=None, plugins=None,
                  sockets=None, warmup_delay=0, httpd=False,
                  httpd_host='localhost', httpd_port=8080,
-                 httpd_close_outputs=False, debug=False,
+                 httpd_close_outputs=False, debug=False, debug_gc=False,
                  ssh_server=None, proc_name='circusd', pidfile=None,
                  loglevel=None, logoutput=None, fqdn_prefix=None, umask=None,
                  endpoint_owner=None):
@@ -131,6 +135,10 @@ def __init__(self, watchers, endpoint, pubsub_endpoint, check_delay=1.0,
         else:
             self.stdout_stream = self.stderr_stream = None
 
+        self.debug_gc = debug_gc
+        if debug_gc:
+            gc.set_debug(gc.DEBUG_LEAK)
+
         # initializing circusd-stats as a watcher when configured
         self.statsd = statsd
         self.stats_endpoint = stats_endpoint
@@ -422,6 +430,7 @@ def load_from_config(cls, config_file, loop=None):
                       httpd_host=cfg.get('httpd_host', 'localhost'),
                       httpd_port=cfg.get('httpd_port', 8080),
                       debug=cfg.get('debug', False),
+                      debug_gc=cfg.get('debug_gc', False),
                       ssh_server=cfg.get('ssh_server', None),
                       pidfile=cfg.get('pidfile', None),
                       loglevel=cfg.get('loglevel', None),
diff --git a/circus/config.py b/circus/config.py
index 063707a92..bc9285ce0 100644
--- a/circus/config.py
+++ b/circus/config.py
@@ -165,6 +165,7 @@ def _upper(items):
     config['httpd_host'] = dget('circus', 'httpd_host', 'localhost', str)
     config['httpd_port'] = dget('circus', 'httpd_port', 8080, int)
     config['debug'] = dget('circus', 'debug', False, bool)
+    config['debug_gc'] = dget('circus', 'debug_gc', False, bool)
     config['pidfile'] = dget('circus', 'pidfile')
     config['loglevel'] = dget('circus', 'loglevel')
     config['logoutput'] = dget('circus', 'logoutput')
diff --git a/docs/source/for-ops/configuration.rst b/docs/source/for-ops/configuration.rst
index 3db9a1997..382b4027c 100644
--- a/docs/source/for-ops/configuration.rst
+++ b/docs/source/for-ops/configuration.rst
@@ -98,6 +98,10 @@ circus - single section
     **debug**
         If set to True, all Circus stout/stderr daemons are redirected to circusd
         stdout/stderr (default: False)
+    **debug_gc**
+        If set to True, circusd outputs additional log info from the garbage
+        collector. This can be useful in tracking down memory leaks.
+        (default: False)
     **pidfile**
         The file that must be used to keep the daemon pid.
     **umask**