diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index b128331b..d6fe62e4 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ v2.0.0
  - Upgrade to Rspec 3
  - Upgrade all dependencies to current stable versions
  - Catch MultiJson::ParseErrors and return SparkApi::InvalidJSON error instead
+ - Add default 1 second open_timeout to HTTP requests
 
 v1.4.28
  - move public_suffix to development dependency where it belongs
diff --git a/lib/spark_api/configuration.rb b/lib/spark_api/configuration.rb
index 0d2bbf9a..840304cd 100644
--- a/lib/spark_api/configuration.rb
+++ b/lib/spark_api/configuration.rb
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ module Configuration
     # valid configuration options
     VALID_OPTION_KEYS = [:api_key, :api_secret, :api_user, :endpoint, 
       :user_agent, :version, :ssl, :ssl_verify, :oauth2_provider, :authentication_mode, 
-      :auth_endpoint, :callback, :compress, :timeout, :middleware, :dictionary_version, :request_id_chain].freeze
+      :auth_endpoint, :callback, :compress, :open_timeout, :timeout, :middleware, :dictionary_version, :request_id_chain].freeze
     OAUTH2_KEYS = [:authorization_uri, :access_uri, :client_id, :client_secret,
       # Requirements for authorization_code grant type
       :redirect_uri,  
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ module Configuration
     DEFAULT_SSL_VERIFY = true
     DEFAULT_OAUTH2 = nil
     DEFAULT_COMPRESS = false
+    DEFAULT_OPEN_TIMEOUT = 1 # seconds
     DEFAULT_TIMEOUT = 5 # seconds
     DEFAULT_MIDDLEWARE = 'spark_api'
     DEFAULT_DICTIONARY_VERSION = nil
@@ -78,6 +79,7 @@ def reset_configuration
       self.ssl_verify  = DEFAULT_SSL_VERIFY
       self.version     = DEFAULT_VERSION
       self.compress    = DEFAULT_COMPRESS
+      self.open_timeout = DEFAULT_OPEN_TIMEOUT
       self.timeout     = DEFAULT_TIMEOUT
       self.middleware = DEFAULT_MIDDLEWARE
       self.dictionary_version = DEFAULT_DICTIONARY_VERSION
diff --git a/lib/spark_api/connection.rb b/lib/spark_api/connection.rb
index fe17940f..8a4dbe6a 100644
--- a/lib/spark_api/connection.rb
+++ b/lib/spark_api/connection.rb
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ def connection(force_ssl = false)
 
       conn = Faraday.new(opts) do |conn|
         conn.response self.middleware.to_sym
+        conn.options[:open_timeout] = self.open_timeout
         conn.options[:timeout] = self.timeout
         conn.adapter Faraday.default_adapter
       end
diff --git a/spec/unit/spark_api/configuration_spec.rb b/spec/unit/spark_api/configuration_spec.rb
index 9b21184b..cc75ca2e 100644
--- a/spec/unit/spark_api/configuration_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/unit/spark_api/configuration_spec.rb
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
       expect(SparkApi.timeout).to eq(5)
       expect(SparkApi.request_id_chain).to be_nil
       expect(SparkApi.middleware).to eq('spark_api')
+      expect(SparkApi.open_timeout).to eq(1)
     end
   end
 
@@ -25,6 +26,7 @@
                                     :api_user => "1234",
                                     :auth_endpoint => "https://login.wade.dev.fbsdata.com",
                                     :endpoint => "http://api.wade.dev.fbsdata.com",
+                                    :open_timeout => 2,
                                     :timeout => 15,
                                     :request_id_chain => 'foobar')
  
@@ -34,6 +36,7 @@
       expect(client.auth_endpoint).to match("https://login.wade.dev.fbsdata.com")
       expect(client.endpoint).to match("http://api.wade.dev.fbsdata.com")
       expect(client.version).to match("v1")
+      expect(client.open_timeout).to eq(2)
       expect(client.timeout).to eq(15)
       expect(client.request_id_chain).to eq('foobar')
     end
@@ -97,6 +100,7 @@
         config.version = "veleventy"
         config.endpoint = "test.api.sparkapi.com"
         config.user_agent = "my useragent"
+        config.open_timeout = 2
         config.timeout = 15
       end
 
@@ -107,6 +111,7 @@
       expect(SparkApi.endpoint).to match("test.api.sparkapi.com")
       expect(SparkApi.user_agent).to match("my useragent")
       expect(SparkApi.oauth2_enabled?()).to be false
+      expect(SparkApi.open_timeout).to eq(2)
       expect(SparkApi.timeout).to eq(15)
     end
 
@@ -226,14 +231,21 @@
       expect(c.connection.headers["Accept-Encoding"]).to eq("gzip, deflate")
     end
 
-    it "should set default timeout of 5 seconds" do
+    it "should set default read timeout of 5 seconds" do
       c = SparkApi::Client.new(:endpoint => "https://sparkapi.com")
       expect(c.connection.options[:timeout]).to eq(5)
     end
 
+    it "should set default open timeout of 1 second" do
+      c = SparkApi::Client.new(:endpoint => "https://sparkapi.com")
+      expect(c.connection.options[:open_timeout]).to eq(1)
+    end
+
     it "should set alternate timeout if specified" do
       c = SparkApi::Client.new(:endpoint => "https://sparkapi.com",
+        :open_timeout => 5,
         :timeout => 15)
+      expect(c.connection.options[:open_timeout]).to eq(5)
       expect(c.connection.options[:timeout]).to eq(15)
     end
   end