diff --git a/test/acceptance/batch/batch-limits.test.js b/test/acceptance/batch/batch-limits.test.js
index f015787e..5d46872c 100644
--- a/test/acceptance/batch/batch-limits.test.js
+++ b/test/acceptance/batch/batch-limits.test.js
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ var BatchTestClient = require('../../support/batch-test-client');
 var JobStatus = require('../../../batch/job_status');
 var redisUtils = require('../../support/redis_utils');
 var metadataBackend = require('cartodb-redis')({ pool: redisUtils.getPool() });
+const db_utils = require('../../support/db_utils');
 
 describe('batch query statement_timeout limit', function() {
 
@@ -14,13 +15,14 @@ describe('batch query statement_timeout limit', function() {
         global.settings.batch_query_timeout = 15000;
         metadataBackend.redisCmd(5, 'HMSET', ['limits:batch:vizzuality', 'timeout', 100], done);
     });
-
+    before(db_utils.resetPgBouncerConnections);
     after(function(done) {
         global.settings.batch_query_timeout = this.batchQueryTimeout;
         redisUtils.clean('limits:batch:*', function() {
             this.batchTestClient.drain(done);
         }.bind(this));
     });
+    after(db_utils.resetPgBouncerConnections);
 
     function jobPayload(query) {
         return {
diff --git a/test/acceptance/export/timeout.js b/test/acceptance/export/timeout.js
index 0a927acc..2cc5a558 100644
--- a/test/acceptance/export/timeout.js
+++ b/test/acceptance/export/timeout.js
@@ -4,9 +4,13 @@ require('../../support/assert');
 
 var assert = require('assert');
 var querystring = require('querystring');
+const db_utils = require('../../support/db_utils');
 
 describe('timeout', function () {
     describe('export database', function () {
+        before(db_utils.resetPgBouncerConnections);
+        after(db_utils.resetPgBouncerConnections);
+
         const databaseTimeoutQuery = `
             select
                 ST_SetSRID(ST_Point(0, 0), 4326) as the_geom,
diff --git a/test/prepare_db.sh b/test/prepare_db.sh
index 4536482a..a162dadb 100755
--- a/test/prepare_db.sh
+++ b/test/prepare_db.sh
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@ if test x"$PREPARE_PGSQL" = xyes; then
 
   echo "preparing postgres..."
   echo "PostgreSQL server version: `psql -A -t -c 'select version()'`"
+  echo "PAUSE; RESUME;" | psql -p 6432 pgbouncer # make sure there are no connections pgbouncer -> test_db
   dropdb ${TEST_DB} # 2> /dev/null # error expected if doesn't exist, but not otherwise
   createdb -Ttemplate_postgis -EUTF8 ${TEST_DB} || die "Could not create test database"
   psql -c 'CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS "uuid-ossp";' ${TEST_DB}
diff --git a/test/run_tests.sh b/test/run_tests.sh
index c3f2cb67..354efa07 100755
--- a/test/run_tests.sh
+++ b/test/run_tests.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/bin/sh
+#!/bin/bash
 
 # To make output dates deterministic
 export TZ='Europe/Rome'
diff --git a/test/support/db_utils.js b/test/support/db_utils.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..decfc9fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/support/db_utils.js
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+'use strict';
+
+const { Client } = require('pg');
+
+const dbConfig = {
+    db_user: process.env.PGUSER || 'postgres',
+    db_host: global.settings.db_host,
+    db_port: global.settings.db_port,
+    db_batch_port: global.settings.db_batch_port
+};
+
+module.exports.resetPgBouncerConnections = function (callback) {
+    // We assume there's no pgbouncer if db_port === db_batch_port
+    if (dbConfig.db_port === dbConfig.db_batch_port) {
+        return callback();
+    }
+
+    const client = new Client({
+        database: 'pgbouncer',
+        user: dbConfig.db_user,
+        host: dbConfig.db_host,
+        port: dbConfig.db_port
+    });
+
+    // We just chain a PAUSE followed by a RESUME to reset internal pool connections of PgBouncer
+    client.connect();
+    client.query('PAUSE', err => {
+        if (err) {
+            return callback(err);
+        }
+        client.query('RESUME', err => {
+            client.end();
+            return callback(err);
+        });
+    });
+};