diff --git a/lib/up-storage.js b/lib/up-storage.js
index 3d6b5f47d..0176975f9 100644
--- a/lib/up-storage.js
+++ b/lib/up-storage.js
@@ -34,14 +34,21 @@ function Storage(config, mainconfig) {
 	_setupProxy.call(this, this.url.hostname, config, mainconfig, this.url.protocol === 'https:')
 
 	this.config.url = this.config.url.replace(/\/$/, '')
-	this.maxage = parse_interval(this.config.maxage || '2m')
 	if (Number(this.config.timeout) >= 1000) {
 		this.logger.warn('Too big timeout value: ' + this.config.timeout + '\nWe changed time format to nginx-like one\n(see http://wiki.nginx.org/ConfigNotation)\nso please update your config accordingly')
 	}
-	this.timeout = parse_interval(this.config.timeout || '30s')
-	this.max_fails = Number(this.config.max_fails) || 2
-	this.fail_timeout = parse_interval(this.config.fail_timeout || '5m')
+
+	// a bunch of different configurable timers
+	this.maxage =       parse_interval(config_get('maxage'      , '2m' ))
+	this.timeout =      parse_interval(config_get('timeout'     , '30s'))
+	this.max_fails =            Number(config_get('max_fails'   ,  2   ))
+	this.fail_timeout = parse_interval(config_get('fail_timeout', '5m' ))
 	return this
+
+	// just a helper (`config[key] || default` doesn't work because of zeroes)
+	function config_get(key, def) {
+		return config[key] != null ? config[key] : def
+	}
 }
 
 function _setupProxy(hostname, config, mainconfig, isHTTPS) {
diff --git a/test/functional/config-2.yaml b/test/functional/config-2.yaml
index 8491025d3..2f38072fc 100644
--- a/test/functional/config-2.yaml
+++ b/test/functional/config-2.yaml
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ users:
 uplinks:
   server1:
     url: http://localhost:55551/
+    maxage: 0
 
 logs:
   - {type: stdout, format: pretty, level: trace}
@@ -15,7 +16,7 @@ packages:
   'testfwd':
     allow_access: all
     allow_publish: all
-  
+
   'testloop':
     allow_access: all
     allow_publish: all