diff --git a/bin/api-umbrella-nginx-reloader b/bin/api-umbrella-nginx-reloader
deleted file mode 100755
index 993875555..000000000
--- a/bin/api-umbrella-nginx-reloader
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,33 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env bash
-
-set -e -u
-
-# Kill the child "sleep" processes on exit.
-cleanup() {
-  local pids
-  mapfile -t pids < <(jobs -pr)
-  if [ -n "${pids:-}" ]; then
-    kill "${pids[@]}"
-  fi
-}
-trap "cleanup" EXIT
-
-if [ -z "${API_UMBRELLA_NGINX_RELOADER_FREQUENCY:-}" ]; then
-  echo "Error: API_UMBRELLA_NGINX_RELOADER_FREQUENCY environment variable is not set"
-  exit 1
-fi
-
-if [ -z "${API_UMBRELLA_PERP_BASE:-}" ]; then
-  echo "Error: API_UMBRELLA_PERP_BASE environment variable is not set"
-  exit 1
-fi
-
-# FIXME: Reload nginx after a certain amount of time passes. This is an ugly
-# workaround to alleviate potential memory leaks we've seen in some
-# environments: https://github.com/18F/api.data.gov/issues/296 We should remove
-# this once we figure out the underlying issue.
-while true; do
-  sleep "$API_UMBRELLA_NGINX_RELOADER_FREQUENCY"
-  echo "Reloading nginx..."
-  perpctl -b "$API_UMBRELLA_PERP_BASE" hup nginx
-done
diff --git a/build/package/verify/spec/localhost/service_spec.rb b/build/package/verify/spec/localhost/service_spec.rb
index 641ebbfe9..0d210b115 100644
--- a/build/package/verify/spec/localhost/service_spec.rb
+++ b/build/package/verify/spec/localhost/service_spec.rb
@@ -244,7 +244,6 @@ def install_package(version)
       "mongod",
       "mora",
       "nginx",
-      "nginx-reloader",
       "rsyslog",
       "trafficserver",
       "web-delayed-job",
@@ -263,7 +262,6 @@ def install_package(version)
       "/opt/api-umbrella/var/log/geoip-auto-updater/current",
       "/opt/api-umbrella/var/log/mongod/current",
       "/opt/api-umbrella/var/log/mora/current",
-      "/opt/api-umbrella/var/log/nginx-reloader/current",
       "/opt/api-umbrella/var/log/nginx/current",
       "/opt/api-umbrella/var/log/perpd/current",
       "/opt/api-umbrella/var/log/rsyslog/current",
diff --git a/config/default.yml b/config/default.yml
index a11990e9c..61dab702f 100644
--- a/config/default.yml
+++ b/config/default.yml
@@ -50,7 +50,6 @@ nginx:
       size: 20m
     upstream_checksums:
       size: 200k
-  _reloader_frequency: 14400 # 4 hours
 gatekeeper:
   api_key_methods:
     - header
diff --git a/src/api-umbrella/cli/read_config.lua b/src/api-umbrella/cli/read_config.lua
index 4045c032e..7fb7c07c8 100644
--- a/src/api-umbrella/cli/read_config.lua
+++ b/src/api-umbrella/cli/read_config.lua
@@ -407,7 +407,6 @@ local function set_computed_config()
     ["_service_router_enabled?"] = array_includes(config["services"], "router"),
     ["_service_auto_ssl_enabled?"] = array_includes(config["services"], "auto_ssl"),
     ["_service_web_enabled?"] = array_includes(config["services"], "web"),
-    ["_service_nginx_reloader_enabled?"] = (array_includes(config["services"], "router") and config["nginx"]["_reloader_frequency"]),
     router = {
       trusted_proxies = trusted_proxies,
     },
diff --git a/src/api-umbrella/cli/reload.lua b/src/api-umbrella/cli/reload.lua
index 28c0be332..2187ba776 100644
--- a/src/api-umbrella/cli/reload.lua
+++ b/src/api-umbrella/cli/reload.lua
@@ -54,14 +54,6 @@ local function reload_dev_env_ember_server(perp_base)
   end
 end
 
-local function reload_nginx_reloader(perp_base)
-  local _, _, err = run_command({ "perpctl", "-b", perp_base, "term", "nginx-reloader" })
-  if err then
-    print("Failed to reload nginx-reloader\n" .. err)
-    os.exit(1)
-  end
-end
-
 return function(options)
   options["reload"] = nil
 
@@ -84,10 +76,6 @@ return function(options)
   if config["_service_router_enabled?"] and (is_empty(options) or options["router"]) then
     reload_trafficserver(config)
     reload_nginx(perp_base)
-
-    if config["_service_nginx_reloader_enabled?"] then
-      reload_nginx_reloader(perp_base)
-    end
   end
 
   if config["app_env"] == "development" then
diff --git a/src/api-umbrella/cli/setup.lua b/src/api-umbrella/cli/setup.lua
index 9cfc80263..1734eab5f 100644
--- a/src/api-umbrella/cli/setup.lua
+++ b/src/api-umbrella/cli/setup.lua
@@ -267,7 +267,6 @@ local function activate_services()
     active_services["geoip-auto-updater"] = 1
     active_services["mora"] = 1
     active_services["nginx"] = 1
-    active_services["nginx-reloader"] = 1
     active_services["rsyslog"] = 1
     active_services["trafficserver"] = 1
   end
diff --git a/templates/etc/perp/nginx-reloader/rc.env.mustache b/templates/etc/perp/nginx-reloader/rc.env.mustache
deleted file mode 100644
index 982753431..000000000
--- a/templates/etc/perp/nginx-reloader/rc.env.mustache
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-API_UMBRELLA_NGINX_RELOADER_FREQUENCY={{nginx._reloader_frequency}}
-API_UMBRELLA_PERP_BASE={{etc_dir}}/perp
diff --git a/templates/etc/perp/nginx-reloader/rc.log b/templates/etc/perp/nginx-reloader/rc.log
deleted file mode 100755
index 0bfdd70ef..000000000
--- a/templates/etc/perp/nginx-reloader/rc.log
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env bash
-set -e -u
-exec ../rc.log "$@"
diff --git a/templates/etc/perp/nginx-reloader/rc.main.mustache b/templates/etc/perp/nginx-reloader/rc.main.mustache
deleted file mode 100755
index 9d2841805..000000000
--- a/templates/etc/perp/nginx-reloader/rc.main.mustache
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,16 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env bash
-set -e -u
-
-# Redirect stderr to stdout
-exec 2>&1
-
-umask "{{umask}}"
-
-if [ "${1}" = "start" ]; then
-  echo "starting ${2}..."
-
-  run_args=("-e" "rc.env")
-  exec runtool ${run_args[@]+"${run_args[@]}"} "{{_src_root_dir}}/bin/api-umbrella-nginx-reloader"
-fi
-
-exit 0