Much better reuse of clients and cleanup of clients. Not tested.

lib/balance.js

@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ Balancer.prototype.getRequestHandler = function (clientRequest, clientResponse)
       response.addListener("end", function () {
         clientResponse.close();
         c.removeListener("error", clientError);
-        c.busy = false;
+        c.unlock();
       })
       // work-around for end event bug in node
       if (clientRequest.method == 'HEAD') {

lib/pool.js

@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ function createPool (options) {
 
   pool.createClient = function (port, host, group) {
     var client = http.createClient(port, host);
+    client.lock = function () {pool.lock(client)};
+    client.unlock = function () {pool.unlock(client)};
     client.group = group;
     var _request = client.request;
     client.request = function () {
@@ -22,6 +24,7 @@ function createPool (options) {
     client.addListener("error", function (error) {
       group.removeClient(client);
     })
+
     return client;
   }
 
@@ -30,13 +33,18 @@ function createPool (options) {
     client.pending_request = 0;
     client.locktime = Date();
     client.response_received = false;
+    clearTimeout(client.cleanup);
   }
   pool.unlock = function (client) {
     delete client.response_received;
     delete client.endtime;
     delete client.starttime;
     client.unlockedAt = Date();
     client.busy = false;
+    client.cleanup = function () {
+      try {client.group.removeClient(client);} catch() {}
+    }
+    setTimeout(client.cleanup, 1000 * 60);
   }
 
   pool.createGroup = function (port, host) {
@@ -49,7 +57,7 @@ function createPool (options) {
       var clients = group.clients;
       for (var i=0;i<clients.length;i+=1) {
         if (!clients[i].busy) {
-          pool.lock(clients[i]);
+          clients[i].lock();
           return clients[i];
         }
       }
@@ -78,10 +86,6 @@ function createPool (options) {
     }
   }
 
-  pool.cleanup = function (client) {
-    // if ((Date() - client.unlockedAt) > client.pool.)
-    // return true or false if a client should be removed from the group
-  } 
   return pool;
 }