diff --git a/resources/content-server/autoreload.js b/resources/content-server/autoreload.js
index b2deb101c2..13ab18902f 100644
--- a/resources/content-server/autoreload.js
+++ b/resources/content-server/autoreload.js
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@
             };
 
             self.ws.onmessage = function(event) {
-                console.log('Received mesasge from reload server: ' + event.data);
+                if (event.data !== 'ping') console.log('Received mesasge from reload server: ' + event.data);
                 if (event.data === 'reload') window.location.reload(true);
             };
 
diff --git a/src/calibre/srv/auto_reload.py b/src/calibre/srv/auto_reload.py
index bdd87e4b39..34d3c4d8bf 100644
--- a/src/calibre/srv/auto_reload.py
+++ b/src/calibre/srv/auto_reload.py
@@ -253,7 +253,7 @@ class Worker(object):
     def ping_thread(self):
         while True:
             self.server.ping()
-            time.sleep(0.9 * self.connection_timeout)
+            time.sleep(30)
 
     def __enter__(self):
         self.restart()
@@ -341,7 +341,7 @@ class ReloadHandler(DummyHandler):
             for connref in self.connections.itervalues():
                 conn = connref()
                 if conn is not None and conn.ready:
-                    conn.send_websocket_ping()
+                    conn.send_websocket_message('ping')
 
 
 class ReloadServer(Thread):