pgpool dropping db node

Hello.

This is my first message on this list. I've been using pgpool-II 2.0.1
for a while, and although it solved some problems I had with previous
versions, it introduced a few ones. I couldn't find much in the
documentation, nor any way to make it log things, so I hope you might
be able to help me.
I have one pgpool-II instance, running with 2 backend postgresql
servers, using replicate_mode with load balancing.
First, and most important problem, is the fact that after some time (I
guess this happens when load is high), it drops the second backend. I
couldn't find a way to make pgpool log things. The documentation says
all it logs is its pid in /var/run.
When this happens, I have to go all the way to sync the backends and
restart the pooler. I do this by stopping the pooler (normally it
won't stop, and I must use killall -9 on it). After I kill the pooler,
I stop the backends, rsync them, and then start the pooler again after
starting the backends. Sometimes, pgpool won't start, sometimes it
starts and then dies, and sometimes it starts fine. I noticed the
problem of not starting got worse after I increased the number of
pre-forked childs.
Is there any way in which I can help debug this?
Here goes my pgpool.conf. I have it listening on port 5432 due to
legacy applications which try to connect to a fixed IP and port.

Thanks in advance!

listen_addresses = '*'
port = 5432
pcp_port = 9898
socket_dir = '/tmp'
pcp_socket_dir = '/tmp'
backend_socket_dir = '/tmp'
pcp_timeout = 10
num_init_children = 256
max_pool = 4
child_life_time = 2
connection_life_time = 2
child_max_connections = 1
client_idle_limit = 0
authentication_timeout = 60
logdir = '/var/run'
replication_mode = true
replication_timeout = 5000
load_balance_mode = true
replication_stop_on_mismatch = true
replicate_select = false
reset_query_list = 'ABORT; RESET ALL; SET SESSION AUTHORIZATION DEFAULT'
print_timestamp = true
master_slave_mode = false
connection_cache = true
health_check_timeout = 20
health_check_period = 0
health_check_user = 'nobody'
failover_command = ''
failback_command = ''
insert_lock = false
ignore_leading_white_space = true
log_statement = false
log_connections = false
log_hostname = false
parallel_mode = false
enable_query_cache = false
pgpool2_hostname = ''
system_db_hostname = 'localhost'
system_db_port = 5432
system_db_dbname = 'pgpool'
system_db_schema = 'pgpool_catalog'
system_db_user = 'pgpool'
system_db_password = ''
backend_hostname0 = 'db02.omicron'
backend_port0 = 5432
backend_weight0 = 1
backend_hostname1 = 'db03.omicron'
backend_port1 = 5432
backend_weight1 = 1
enable_pool_hba = false
recovery_user = 'nobody'
recovery_password = ''
recovery_1st_stage_command = ''
recovery_2nd_stage_command = ''


-- 
Bruno Lustosa <bruno-God0kL5/+C3R7s880joybQ@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
http://www.lustosa.net/