diff --git a/pageserver/src/deletion_queue.rs b/pageserver/src/deletion_queue.rs
index 553e3f2eb0..efa5cc4f99 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/deletion_queue.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/deletion_queue.rs
@@ -23,11 +23,11 @@ const DELETION_LIST_TARGET_SIZE: usize = 16384;
 // Ordinarily, we only flush to DeletionList periodically, to bound the window during
 // which we might leak objects from not flushing a DeletionList after
 // the objects are already unlinked from timeline metadata.
-const FLUSH_DEFAULT_DEADLINE: Duration = Duration::from_millis(10000);
+const FRONTEND_DEFAULT_TIMEOUT: Duration = Duration::from_millis(10000);
 
 // If someone is waiting for a flush to DeletionList, only delay a little to accumulate
 // more objects before doing the flush.
-const FLUSH_EXPLICIT_DEADLINE: Duration = Duration::from_millis(100);
+const FRONTEND_FLUSHING_TIMEOUT: Duration = Duration::from_millis(100);
 
 // After this length of time, execute deletions which are elegible to run,
 // even if we haven't accumulated enough for a full-sized DeleteObjects
@@ -514,11 +514,6 @@ pub struct FrontendQueueWorker {
     // These FlushOps should fire the next time we flush
     pending_flushes: Vec<FlushOp>,
 
-    // After how long will we flush a DeletionList without reaching the target size:
-    // this is lazy usually, but after a failed flush it is set to a smaller time
-    // period to drive retries
-    timeout: Duration,
-
     // Worker loop is torn down when this fires.
     cancel: CancellationToken,
 }
@@ -573,8 +568,6 @@ impl FrontendQueueWorker {
                     // so we can just drop this on the floor.
                     info!("Deletion list dropped, this is normal during shutdown ({e:#})");
                 }
-
-                self.timeout = FLUSH_DEFAULT_DEADLINE;
             }
             Err(e) => {
                 DELETION_QUEUE_ERRORS.with_label_values(&["put_list"]).inc();
@@ -582,7 +575,6 @@ impl FrontendQueueWorker {
                     sequence = self.pending.sequence,
                     "Failed to write deletion list to remote storage, will retry later ({e:#})"
                 );
-                self.timeout = FLUSH_EXPLICIT_DEADLINE;
             }
         }
     }
@@ -734,7 +726,13 @@ impl FrontendQueueWorker {
         let mut recovered: bool = false;
 
         loop {
-            let msg = match tokio::time::timeout(self.timeout, self.rx.recv()).await {
+            let timeout = if self.pending_flushes.is_empty() {
+                FRONTEND_DEFAULT_TIMEOUT
+            } else {
+                FRONTEND_FLUSHING_TIMEOUT
+            };
+
+            let msg = match tokio::time::timeout(timeout, self.rx.recv()).await {
                 Ok(Some(msg)) => msg,
                 Ok(None) => {
                     // Queue sender destroyed, shutting down
@@ -795,9 +793,6 @@ impl FrontendQueueWorker {
                     } else {
                         // Execute next time we flush
                         self.pending_flushes.push(op);
-
-                        // Move up the deadline since we have been explicitly asked to flush
-                        self.timeout = FLUSH_EXPLICIT_DEADLINE;
                     }
                 }
                 FrontendQueueMessage::FlushExecute(op) => {
@@ -809,8 +804,9 @@ impl FrontendQueueWorker {
                 }
             }
 
-            if self.pending.objects.len() > DELETION_LIST_TARGET_SIZE {
-                debug!(sequence = self.pending.sequence, "Flushing for deadline");
+            if self.pending.objects.len() > DELETION_LIST_TARGET_SIZE
+                || !self.pending_flushes.is_empty()
+            {
                 self.flush().await;
             }
         }
@@ -855,7 +851,6 @@ impl DeletionQueue {
                 conf,
                 rx,
                 tx: backend_tx,
-                timeout: FLUSH_DEFAULT_DEADLINE,
                 pending_flushes: Vec::new(),
                 cancel,
             }),