diff --git a/irc.php b/irc.php
index 44093ed068..b07143821d 100755
--- a/irc.php
+++ b/irc.php
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@ error_reporting(E_ERROR);
 
 class ircbot {
 
+    private $last_activity = '';
+
     private $data = '';
 
     private $authd = array();
@@ -149,6 +151,8 @@ class ircbot {
             $this->connect_alert();
         }
 
+        $this->last_activity = time();
+
         $this->j = 2;
 
         $this->connect();
@@ -170,6 +174,16 @@ class ircbot {
             if ($this->config['irc_alert']) {
                 $this->alertData();
             }
+            
+            if ($this->config['irc_conn_timeout']) {
+                $inactive_seconds = time() - $this->last_activity;
+                $max_inactive = $this->config['irc_conn_timeout'];
+                if ($inactive_seconds > $max_inactive) {
+                    $this->log("No data from server since " . $max_inactive . " seconds. Restarting.");
+                    break;
+                }
+            }
+
 
             usleep($this->tick);
         }
@@ -267,6 +281,7 @@ class ircbot {
 
     private function getData() {
         if (($data = $this->read('irc')) !== false) {
+            $this->last_activity = time();
             $this->data = $data;
             $ex         = explode(' ', $this->data);
             if ($ex[0] == 'PING') {
@@ -375,7 +390,15 @@ class ircbot {
             $server = $this->server;
         }
 
-        $this->socket['irc'] = fsockopen($server, $this->port);
+        if ($this->ssl && $this->config['irc_disable_ssl_check']) {
+            $ssl_context_params = array('ssl'=>array('allow_self_signed'=> true, 'verify_peer' => false, 'verify_peer_name' => false ));
+            $ssl_context = stream_context_create($ssl_context_params);
+            $this->socket['irc'] = stream_socket_client($server.':'.$this->port, $errno, $errstr, 30, STREAM_CLIENT_CONNECT, $ssl_context);
+        }
+        else {
+            $this->socket['irc'] = fsockopen($server, $this->port);
+        }
+
         if (!is_resource($this->socket['irc'])) {
             return $this->connect($try + 1);
         }