# Why does my load balancer respond with a 504 Gateway Timeout error?

When a load balancer’s connection remains idle for 60 seconds, it times out and responds with a 504 Gateway Timeout error. If your application requires longer than 60 seconds to respond, you can [increase the load balancer’s timeout settings](https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/networking/load-balancers/how-to/manage/index.html.md#http-idle-timeout) in its **Settings** tab.

## Related Topics

[How to Troubleshoot Load Balancer Health Check Issues](https://docs.digitalocean.com/support/how-to-troubleshoot-load-balancer-health-check-issues/index.html.md): Health checks often fail due to firewalls or misconfigured backend server software.

[How do I enable PROXY protocol when my load balancer sends requests to the NGINX Ingress Controller?](https://docs.digitalocean.com/support/how-do-i-enable-proxy-protocol-when-my-load-balancer-sends-requests-to-the-nginx-ingress-controller/index.html.md): Edit the ConfigMap which nginx uses to enable PROXY protocol.

[Why does my load balancer respond with an HTTP 503 error?](https://docs.digitalocean.com/support/why-does-my-load-balancer-respond-with-an-http-503-error/index.html.md): Load balancers return 503 errors when there are either no Droplets assigned to them or all of the assigned Droplets are unhealthy.