diff --git a/lib/logtail/config.rb b/lib/logtail/config.rb
index 4e75a97..1736522 100755
--- a/lib/logtail/config.rb
+++ b/lib/logtail/config.rb
@@ -32,6 +32,10 @@ def call(severity, timestamp, progname, msg)
 
     attr_writer :http_body_limit
 
+    def initialize
+      @debug_logger = nil
+    end
+
     # Whether a particular {Logtail::LogEntry} should be sent to Better Stack
     def send_to_better_stack?(log_entry)
       !@better_stack_filters&.any? { |blocker| blocker.call(log_entry) }
diff --git a/lib/logtail/log_devices/http.rb b/lib/logtail/log_devices/http.rb
index 48b6edf..eeb6c7a 100755
--- a/lib/logtail/log_devices/http.rb
+++ b/lib/logtail/log_devices/http.rb
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ class HTTP
       DEFAULT_INGESTING_SCHEME = "https".freeze
       CONTENT_TYPE = "application/msgpack".freeze
       USER_AGENT = "Logtail Ruby/#{Logtail::VERSION} (HTTP)".freeze
+      INITIAL_RECONNECT_WAIT = 1 # second
+      MAX_RECONNECT_WAIT = 30 # seconds
 
       # Instantiates a new HTTP log device that can be passed to {Logtail::Logger#initialize}.
       #
@@ -83,6 +85,7 @@ def initialize(source_token, options = {})
         @request_queue = options[:request_queue] || FlushableDroppingSizedQueue.new(25)
         @successive_error_count = 0
         @requests_in_flight = 0
+        @reconnect_wait = INITIAL_RECONNECT_WAIT
       end
 
       # Write a new log line message to the buffer, and flush asynchronously if the
@@ -298,15 +301,19 @@ def build_http
           http
         end
 
-        # Creates a loop that processes the `@request_queue` on an interval.
+        # Creates a loop that processes the `@request_queue` on an interval. After a failed
+        # connection it waits before reconnecting, twice as long after every consecutive
+        # failure up to {MAX_RECONNECT_WAIT}, so an unreachable host is not retried in a busy
+        # loop. A delivered request starts the wait over (see {#deliver_requests}).
         def request_outlet
           loop do
             http = build_http
+            connection_healthy = false
 
             begin
               Logtail::Config.instance.debug { "Starting HTTP connection" }
 
-              http.start do |conn|
+              connection_healthy = http.start do |conn|
                 deliver_requests(conn)
               end
             rescue => e
@@ -315,6 +322,12 @@ def request_outlet
               Logtail::Config.instance.debug { "Finishing HTTP connection" }
               http.finish if http.started?
             end
+
+            next if connection_healthy
+
+            Logtail::Config.instance.debug { "Reconnecting in #{@reconnect_wait} seconds" }
+            sleep(@reconnect_wait)
+            @reconnect_wait = [@reconnect_wait * 2, MAX_RECONNECT_WAIT].min
           end
         end
 
@@ -360,6 +373,7 @@ def deliver_requests(conn)
               num_reqs += 1
 
               @last_resp = resp
+              @reconnect_wait = INITIAL_RECONNECT_WAIT
 
               Logtail::Config.instance.debug do
                 if resp.code == "202"
diff --git a/spec/logtail/config_spec.rb b/spec/logtail/config_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ad4a9c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/logtail/config_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+require "spec_helper"
+
+describe Logtail::Config do
+  describe "#debug_logger" do
+    # Ruby before 3.0 warns under `ruby -w` when an unset instance variable is read, and the
+    # HTTP device reads the debug logger on every connection attempt.
+    it "can be read before it is set without an uninitialized instance variable warning" do
+      config = described_class.send(:new)
+      verbose, $VERBOSE = $VERBOSE, true
+
+      expect { config.debug_logger }.not_to output.to_stderr
+    ensure
+      $VERBOSE = verbose
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/spec/logtail/log_devices/http_spec.rb b/spec/logtail/log_devices/http_spec.rb
index 9ae0743..2f6ac4e 100755
--- a/spec/logtail/log_devices/http_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/logtail/log_devices/http_spec.rb
@@ -148,6 +148,87 @@
 
       http.close
     end
+
+    context "when connecting or delivering fails" do
+      # Raised from the stubs below to leave the outlet's endless loop. It is not a
+      # StandardError, so the outlet's own `rescue => e` lets it through.
+      let(:stop_outlet) { Class.new(Exception) }
+      let(:http_device) { described_class.new("MYKEY", flush_continuously: false, requests_per_conn: 1) }
+      let(:request_queue) { http_device.instance_variable_get(:@request_queue) }
+      let(:waits) { [] }
+
+      before do
+        allow(http_device).to receive(:sleep) { |seconds| waits << seconds }
+      end
+
+      it "waits before reconnecting, twice as long after every refused connection, up to 30 seconds" do
+        connection_attempts = 0
+        allow_any_instance_of(Net::HTTP).to receive(:start) do
+          connection_attempts += 1
+          raise stop_outlet if connection_attempts > 7
+          raise Errno::ECONNREFUSED
+        end
+
+        expect { http_device.send(:request_outlet) }.to raise_error(stop_outlet)
+        expect(waits).to eq([1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 30, 30])
+      end
+
+      it "waits the same way when a request fails on an open connection, and still drops it after 3 attempts" do
+        request_queue.enq(Logtail::LogDevices::HTTP::RequestAttempt.new(Net::HTTP::Post.new("/")))
+        request_attempts = 0
+        allow_any_instance_of(Net::HTTP).to receive(:request) do
+          request_attempts += 1
+          raise Errno::ECONNRESET
+        end
+        allow(http_device).to receive(:sleep) do |seconds|
+          waits << seconds
+          raise stop_outlet if waits.size == 3
+        end
+
+        expect { http_device.send(:request_outlet) }.to raise_error(stop_outlet)
+        expect(waits).to eq([1, 2, 4])
+        expect(request_attempts).to eq(3)
+        expect(request_queue.size).to eq(0)
+      end
+
+      it "starts over at 1 second once a request is delivered" do
+        request_queue.enq(Logtail::LogDevices::HTTP::RequestAttempt.new(Net::HTTP::Post.new("/")))
+        connection = double("connection", request: double("response", code: "202"))
+        connections = [:refused, :refused, :delivers, :refused, :refused]
+        allow_any_instance_of(Net::HTTP).to receive(:start) do |_http, &block|
+          case connections.shift
+          when :refused then raise Errno::ECONNREFUSED
+          when :delivers then block.call(connection)
+          else raise stop_outlet
+          end
+        end
+
+        expect { http_device.send(:request_outlet) }.to raise_error(stop_outlet)
+        expect(waits).to eq([1, 2, 1, 2])
+      end
+    end
+
+    it "lets close stop the outlet while it waits to reconnect" do
+      connection_attempts = 0
+      allow_any_instance_of(Net::HTTP).to receive(:start) do
+        connection_attempts += 1
+        raise Errno::ECONNREFUSED
+      end
+      http_device = described_class.new("MYKEY")
+      http_device.send(:ensure_flush_threads_are_started)
+      outlet = http_device.instance_variable_get(:@request_outlet_thread)
+      # Up to 5 seconds for the thread's first attempt, which is slow on a cold TruffleRuby.
+      500.times do
+        break if connection_attempts > 0 && outlet.status == "sleep"
+        sleep 0.01
+      end
+
+      closing = Process.clock_gettime(Process::CLOCK_MONOTONIC)
+      http_device.close
+      expect(Process.clock_gettime(Process::CLOCK_MONOTONIC) - closing).to be < 0.5
+      expect(outlet).not_to be_alive
+      expect(connection_attempts).to eq(1)
+    end
   end
 
   describe "#deliver_requests" do