diff --git a/tests/test_app.py b/tests/test_app.py
index a88172a..bd31b5f 100644
--- a/tests/test_app.py
+++ b/tests/test_app.py
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@ except ImportError:
     from urllib import urlencode
 
 
-handler.DELAY = 0.1
 swallow_http_errors = handler.swallow_http_errors
 server_encodings = {e.strip() for e in Server.encodings}
 
@@ -99,6 +98,7 @@ class TestAppBasic(TestAppBase):
         options.hostfile = ''
         options.syshostfile = ''
         options.tdstream = ''
+        options.delay = 0.1
         app = make_app(make_handlers(loop, options), get_app_settings(options))
         return app
 
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ class TestAppBasic(TestAppBase):
 
         url = url.replace('http', 'ws')
         ws_url = url + 'ws?id=' + data['id']
-        yield tornado.gen.sleep(handler.DELAY + 0.1)
+        yield tornado.gen.sleep(options.delay + 0.1)
         ws = yield tornado.websocket.websocket_connect(ws_url)
         msg = yield ws.read_message()
         self.assertIsNone(msg)
diff --git a/webssh/handler.py b/webssh/handler.py
index 30ed91e..9b65d1d 100644
--- a/webssh/handler.py
+++ b/webssh/handler.py
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@ except ImportError:
     from urlparse import urlparse
 
 
-DELAY = 3
 DEFAULT_PORT = 22
 
 swallow_http_errors = True
@@ -515,8 +514,7 @@ class IndexHandler(MixinHandler, tornado.web.RequestHandler):
                 clients[ip] = workers
             worker.src_addr = (ip, port)
             workers[worker.id] = worker
-            self.loop.call_later(options.delay or DELAY, recycle_worker,
-                                 worker)
+            self.loop.call_later(options.delay, recycle_worker, worker)
             self.result.update(id=worker.id, encoding=worker.encoding)
 
         self.write(self.result)
diff --git a/webssh/settings.py b/webssh/settings.py
index bf75c2d..5ae4a80 100644
--- a/webssh/settings.py
+++ b/webssh/settings.py
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ separated by comma;
 '*': wildcard policy, matches any domain, allowed in debug mode only.''')
 define('wpintvl', type=int, default=0, help='Websocket ping interval')
 define('timeout', type=int, default=3, help='SSH connection timeout')
-define('delay', type=int, default=0, help='The delay to call recycle_worker')
+define('delay', type=float, default=3, help='The delay to call recycle_worker')
 define('maxconn', type=int, default=20,
        help='Maximum live connections (ssh sessions) per client')
 define('font', default='', help='custom font filename')