diff --git a/activerecord/CHANGELOG.md b/activerecord/CHANGELOG.md
index 859ba38588705cf91ea2c738a4bccb515e5488a8..ea8c8088a98482d5a9ba115ba147d49d34955d95 100644
--- a/activerecord/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/activerecord/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+*   Fix `reaping_frequency` option when the value is a string.
+
+    This usually happens when it is configured using `DATABASE_URL`.
+
+    *korbin*
+
 *   Fix error message when trying to create an associated record and the foreign
     key is missing.
 
diff --git a/activerecord/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb b/activerecord/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb
index 3968b903418be5fa7c3ad69a2c3a2b90d35e0bf7..6235745fb2c42f22c45805df624431812af0d8f4 100644
--- a/activerecord/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb
+++ b/activerecord/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb
@@ -236,7 +236,7 @@ def initialize(spec)
         @spec = spec
 
         @checkout_timeout = (spec.config[:checkout_timeout] && spec.config[:checkout_timeout].to_f) || 5
-        @reaper  = Reaper.new self, spec.config[:reaping_frequency]
+        @reaper = Reaper.new(self, (spec.config[:reaping_frequency] && spec.config[:reaping_frequency].to_f))
         @reaper.run
 
         # default max pool size to 5
diff --git a/activerecord/test/cases/reaper_test.rb b/activerecord/test/cases/reaper_test.rb
index f52fd22489461ed3e81adc8f874f98611c3abb71..cccfc6774ed99a53312dd9dcdce304bf8ac43193 100644
--- a/activerecord/test/cases/reaper_test.rb
+++ b/activerecord/test/cases/reaper_test.rb
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ def test_reaping_frequency_configuration
 
       def test_connection_pool_starts_reaper
         spec = ActiveRecord::Base.connection_pool.spec.dup
-        spec.config[:reaping_frequency] = 0.0001
+        spec.config[:reaping_frequency] = '0.0001'
 
         pool = ConnectionPool.new spec