diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 07ca71af073..4184788c8ee 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 ## Unreleased
 
 - Add OpenStack Metrics Scaler ([#1382](https://github.com/kedacore/keda/issues/1382))
+- Fixed goroutine leaks in usage of timers ([#1704](https://github.com/kedacore/keda/pull/1704))
 
 ### New
 
diff --git a/pkg/scalers/external_scaler.go b/pkg/scalers/external_scaler.go
index 9063aec9335..eb7c73a69d0 100644
--- a/pkg/scalers/external_scaler.go
+++ b/pkg/scalers/external_scaler.go
@@ -231,23 +231,28 @@ func (s *externalPushScaler) Run(ctx context.Context, active chan<- bool) {
 
 	// retry on error from runWithLog() starting by 2 sec backing off * 2 with a max of 1 minute
 	retryDuration := time.Second * 2
-	retryBackoff := func() <-chan time.Time {
-		ch := time.After(retryDuration)
+	// the caller of this function needs to ensure that they call Stop() on the resulting
+	// timer, to release background resources.
+	retryBackoff := func() *time.Timer {
+		tmr := time.NewTimer(retryDuration)
 		retryDuration *= time.Second * 2
 		if retryDuration > time.Minute*1 {
 			retryDuration = time.Minute * 1
 		}
-		return ch
+		return tmr
 	}
 
 	// start the first run without delay
 	runWithLog()
 
 	for {
+		backoffTimer := retryBackoff()
 		select {
 		case <-ctx.Done():
+			backoffTimer.Stop()
 			return
-		case <-retryBackoff():
+		case <-backoffTimer.C:
+			backoffTimer.Stop()
 			runWithLog()
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/scaling/scale_handler.go b/pkg/scaling/scale_handler.go
index 9d11761f2b0..df542a44c89 100644
--- a/pkg/scaling/scale_handler.go
+++ b/pkg/scaling/scale_handler.go
@@ -140,12 +140,15 @@ func (h *scaleHandler) startScaleLoop(ctx context.Context, withTriggers *kedav1a
 	pollingInterval := getPollingInterval(withTriggers)
 	logger.V(1).Info("Watching with pollingInterval", "PollingInterval", pollingInterval)
 
+	tmr := time.NewTimer(pollingInterval)
 	for {
 		select {
-		case <-time.After(pollingInterval):
+		case <-tmr.C:
 			h.checkScalers(ctx, scalableObject, scalingMutex)
+			tmr.Stop()
 		case <-ctx.Done():
 			logger.V(1).Info("Context canceled")
+			tmr.Stop()
 			return
 		}
 	}