diff --git a/httpclient5/src/main/java/org/apache/hc/client5/http/impl/async/H2AsyncClientBuilder.java b/httpclient5/src/main/java/org/apache/hc/client5/http/impl/async/H2AsyncClientBuilder.java
index a2b3f476f6..d555b32beb 100644
--- a/httpclient5/src/main/java/org/apache/hc/client5/http/impl/async/H2AsyncClientBuilder.java
+++ b/httpclient5/src/main/java/org/apache/hc/client5/http/impl/async/H2AsyncClientBuilder.java
@@ -734,7 +734,10 @@ public final H2AsyncClientBuilder disableAuthCaching() {
      * get closed and evicted from the pool.
      *
      * @return this instance.
+          * @deprecated Configure connection keep-alive settings appropriately and use
+     * {@link #evictExpiredConnections()} instead.
      */
+    @Deprecated
     public final H2AsyncClientBuilder evictIdleConnections(final TimeValue maxIdleTime) {
         this.evictIdleConnections = true;
         this.maxIdleTime = maxIdleTime;
diff --git a/httpclient5/src/main/java/org/apache/hc/client5/http/impl/async/HttpAsyncClientBuilder.java b/httpclient5/src/main/java/org/apache/hc/client5/http/impl/async/HttpAsyncClientBuilder.java
index d010ac8617..9f68f04cc5 100644
--- a/httpclient5/src/main/java/org/apache/hc/client5/http/impl/async/HttpAsyncClientBuilder.java
+++ b/httpclient5/src/main/java/org/apache/hc/client5/http/impl/async/HttpAsyncClientBuilder.java
@@ -857,7 +857,10 @@ public final HttpAsyncClientBuilder evictExpiredConnections() {
      * get closed and evicted from the pool.
      *
      * @return this instance.
+          * @deprecated Configure connection keep-alive settings appropriately and use
+     * {@link #evictExpiredConnections()} instead.
      */
+    @Deprecated
     public final HttpAsyncClientBuilder evictIdleConnections(final TimeValue maxIdleTime) {
         this.evictIdleConnections = true;
         this.maxIdleTime = Args.notNull(maxIdleTime, "Max idle time");
diff --git a/httpclient5/src/main/java/org/apache/hc/client5/http/impl/classic/HttpClientBuilder.java b/httpclient5/src/main/java/org/apache/hc/client5/http/impl/classic/HttpClientBuilder.java
index 6639349323..9854d9e77a 100644
--- a/httpclient5/src/main/java/org/apache/hc/client5/http/impl/classic/HttpClientBuilder.java
+++ b/httpclient5/src/main/java/org/apache/hc/client5/http/impl/classic/HttpClientBuilder.java
@@ -765,7 +765,10 @@ public final HttpClientBuilder evictExpiredConnections() {
      *
      * @return this instance.
      * @since 4.4
+          * @deprecated Configure connection keep-alive settings appropriately and use
+     * {@link #evictExpiredConnections()} instead.
      */
+    @Deprecated
     public final HttpClientBuilder evictIdleConnections(final TimeValue maxIdleTime) {
         this.evictIdleConnections = true;
         this.maxIdleTime = Args.notNull(maxIdleTime, "Max idle time");
diff --git a/httpclient5/src/test/java/org/apache/hc/client5/http/examples/ClientEvictExpiredConnections.java b/httpclient5/src/test/java/org/apache/hc/client5/http/examples/ClientEvictExpiredConnections.java
index 847ceeba47..eb677ee9f7 100644
--- a/httpclient5/src/test/java/org/apache/hc/client5/http/examples/ClientEvictExpiredConnections.java
+++ b/httpclient5/src/test/java/org/apache/hc/client5/http/examples/ClientEvictExpiredConnections.java
@@ -27,27 +27,31 @@
 package org.apache.hc.client5.http.examples;
 
 import org.apache.hc.client5.http.classic.methods.HttpGet;
+import org.apache.hc.client5.http.config.RequestConfig;
 import org.apache.hc.client5.http.impl.classic.CloseableHttpClient;
 import org.apache.hc.client5.http.impl.classic.HttpClients;
 import org.apache.hc.client5.http.impl.io.PoolingHttpClientConnectionManager;
 import org.apache.hc.core5.http.io.entity.EntityUtils;
 import org.apache.hc.core5.http.message.StatusLine;
-import org.apache.hc.core5.pool.PoolStats;
 import org.apache.hc.core5.util.TimeValue;
 
 /**
- * Example demonstrating how to evict expired and idle connections
- * from the connection pool.
+ * Example demonstrating how to configure connection keep-alive and
+ * evict expired connections from the connection pool.
  */
 public class ClientEvictExpiredConnections {
 
     public static void main(final String[] args) throws Exception {
         final PoolingHttpClientConnectionManager cm = new PoolingHttpClientConnectionManager();
         cm.setMaxTotal(100);
+
+        final RequestConfig requestConfig = RequestConfig.custom()
+                .setConnectionKeepAlive(TimeValue.ofSeconds(5))
+                .build();
         try (final CloseableHttpClient httpclient = HttpClients.custom()
                 .setConnectionManager(cm)
+                .setDefaultRequestConfig(requestConfig)
                 .evictExpiredConnections()
-                .evictIdleConnections(TimeValue.ofSeconds(5))
                 .build()) {
             // create an array of URIs to perform GETs on
             final String[] urisToGet = {
@@ -69,14 +73,6 @@ public static void main(final String[] args) throws Exception {
                 });
             }
 
-            final PoolStats stats1 = cm.getTotalStats();
-            System.out.println("Connections kept alive: " + stats1.getAvailable());
-
-            // Sleep 10 sec and let the connection evictor do its job
-            Thread.sleep(10000);
-
-            final PoolStats stats2 = cm.getTotalStats();
-            System.out.println("Connections kept alive: " + stats2.getAvailable());
 
         }
     }