diff --git a/config/discourse_defaults.conf b/config/discourse_defaults.conf
index d7f3f5d60..53c84f307 100644
--- a/config/discourse_defaults.conf
+++ b/config/discourse_defaults.conf
@@ -14,8 +14,8 @@
 
 # All settings apply to production only
 
-# connection pool size
-db_pool = 5
+# connection pool size, sidekiq is set to 5, allowing an extra 3 for bg threads
+db_pool = 8
 
 # database timeout in milliseconds
 db_timeout = 5000