diff --git a/lib/cartodb/cartodb_windshaft.js b/lib/cartodb/cartodb_windshaft.js
index fb424400..2c7820b0 100644
--- a/lib/cartodb/cartodb_windshaft.js
+++ b/lib/cartodb/cartodb_windshaft.js
@@ -9,8 +9,9 @@ var CartodbWindshaft = function(serverOptions) {
     // set the cache chanel info to invalidate the cache on the frontend server
     serverOptions.afterTileRender = function(req, res, tile, headers, callback) {
         res.header('X-Cache-Channel', req.params.dbname);
-        res.header('Last-Modified','Wed, 30 Aug 1978 00:00:00 GMT'); // special date in the past. 
-        res.header('Cache-Control','no-cache,must-revalidate, public');
+// note - not invalidating properly        
+//        res.header('Last-Modified','Wed, 30 Aug 1978 00:00:00 GMT'); // special date in the past. 
+//        res.header('Cache-Control','no-cache,must-revalidate, public');
         callback(null, tile, headers);
     };
 
diff --git a/lib/cartodb/varnish.js b/lib/cartodb/varnish.js
index 977f5bdc..89f67e5f 100644
--- a/lib/cartodb/varnish.js
+++ b/lib/cartodb/varnish.js
@@ -51,7 +51,15 @@ function VarnishClient(host, port, ready_callback) {
     // sends the command to the server
     function _send(cmd, callback) {
       cmd_callback = callback;
-      client.write(cmd + '\n');
+
+      // If varnish down attempt simple reconnect
+      try{
+        client.write(cmd + '\n');
+      } catch(err) {
+        self.close();
+        connect();
+        client.write(cmd + '\n');
+      }
     }
 
     // run command if there is no peding response