diff --git a/postgres_exporter.go b/postgres_exporter.go
index bd393b40..c4efed13 100644
--- a/postgres_exporter.go
+++ b/postgres_exporter.go
@@ -28,8 +28,6 @@ import (
 // (semantic version)-(commitish) form.
 var Version = "0.0.1"
 
-var sharedDBConn *sql.DB
-
 var (
 	listenAddress = flag.String(
 		"web.listen-address", ":9187",
@@ -673,6 +671,11 @@ type Exporter struct {
 	duration, error prometheus.Gauge
 	totalScrapes    prometheus.Counter
 
+	// dbDsn is the connection string used to establish the dbConnection
+	dbDsn string
+	// dbConnection is used to allow re-using the DB connection between scrapes
+	dbConnection *sql.DB
+
 	// Last version used to calculate metric map. If mismatch on scrape,
 	// then maps are recalculated.
 	lastMapVersion semver.Version
@@ -923,8 +926,16 @@ func (e *Exporter) checkMapVersions(ch chan<- prometheus.Metric, db *sql.DB) err
 	return nil
 }
 
-func getDB(conn string) (*sql.DB, error) {
-	if sharedDBConn == nil {
+func (e *Exporter) getDB(conn string) (*sql.DB, error) {
+	// Has dsn changed?
+	if (e.dbConnection != nil) && (e.dsn != e.dbDsn) {
+		err := e.dbConnection.Close()
+		log.Warnln("Error while closing obsolete DB connection:", err)
+		e.dbConnection = nil
+		e.dbDsn = ""
+	}
+
+	if e.dbConnection == nil {
 		d, err := sql.Open("postgres", conn)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
@@ -935,10 +946,12 @@ func getDB(conn string) (*sql.DB, error) {
 		}
 		d.SetMaxOpenConns(1)
 		d.SetMaxIdleConns(1)
-		sharedDBConn = d
+		e.dbConnection = d
+		e.dbDsn = e.dsn
+		log.Infoln("Established new database connection.")
 	}
 
-	return sharedDBConn, nil
+	return e.dbConnection, nil
 }
 
 func (e *Exporter) scrape(ch chan<- prometheus.Metric) {
@@ -949,10 +962,11 @@ func (e *Exporter) scrape(ch chan<- prometheus.Metric) {
 	e.error.Set(0)
 	e.totalScrapes.Inc()
 
-	db, err := getDB(e.dsn)
+	db, err := e.getDB(e.dsn)
 	if err != nil {
 		loggableDsn := "could not parse DATA_SOURCE_NAME"
 		if pDsn, pErr := url.Parse(e.dsn); pErr != nil {
+			log.Debugln("Blanking password for loggable DSN:", e.dsn)
 			pDsn.User = url.UserPassword(pDsn.User.Username(), "xxx")
 			loggableDsn = pDsn.String()
 		}