diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index d3a551f89..fb1db6eef 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,13 +7,14 @@
 - [#1938](https://github.com/influxdata/kapacitor/issues/1938): pagerduty2 should use routingKey rather than serviceKey
 - [#1982](https://github.com/influxdata/kapacitor/pull/1982): Fix KafkaTopic not working from TICKscript
 - [#1989](https://github.com/influxdata/kapacitor/pull/1989): Improve Kafka alert throughput.
+- [#2062](https://github.com/influxdata/kapacitor/pull/2062): Fix alerta node hang by adding http timeout and fix time.Duration convert when define topic handler with httppost.
 
 ## v1.5.0 [2018-05-17]
 
 ### Features
 
 - [#1842](https://github.com/influxdata/kapacitor/pull/1842): Add alert inhibitors that allow an alert to suppress events from other matching alerts.
-- [#1833](https://github.com/influxdata/kapacitor/pull/1833): Config format updated to allow for more than one slack configuration.  
+- [#1833](https://github.com/influxdata/kapacitor/pull/1833): Config format updated to allow for more than one slack configuration.
 - [#1844](https://github.com/influxdata/kapacitor/pull/1844): Added a new kapacitor node changeDetect that emits a value
     for each time a series field changes.
 - [#1828](https://github.com/influxdata/kapacitor/pull/1828): Add recoverable field to JSON alert response to indicate whether the
@@ -1337,5 +1338,3 @@ Some bug fixes including one that cause Kapacitor to deadlock.
 ### Release Notes
 
 Major public release.
-
-
diff --git a/pipeline/alert.go b/pipeline/alert.go
index 633780645..bf8e3bcfd 100644
--- a/pipeline/alert.go
+++ b/pipeline/alert.go
@@ -1193,6 +1193,9 @@ type AlertaHandler struct {
 	// Alerta timeout.
 	// Default: 24h
 	Timeout time.Duration `json:"timeout"`
+
+	// HTTP Post timeout
+	PostTimeout time.Duration `json:"post-timeout"`
 }
 
 // List of effected services.
diff --git a/services/alerta/config.go b/services/alerta/config.go
index 839afb855..31b3c4c8e 100644
--- a/services/alerta/config.go
+++ b/services/alerta/config.go
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@ type Config struct {
 	Origin string `toml:"origin" override:"origin"`
 	// Optional timeout, can be overridden per alert.
 	Timeout toml.Duration `toml:"timeout" override:"timeout"`
+	// Optional http post-timeout, can be overridden per alert.
+	PostTimeout toml.Duration `toml:"post-timeout" override:"post-timeout"`
 }
 
 func NewConfig() Config {
diff --git a/services/alerta/service.go b/services/alerta/service.go
index cea6d1c1c..7d453d3cb 100644
--- a/services/alerta/service.go
+++ b/services/alerta/service.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package alerta
 
 import (
 	"bytes"
+	"context"
 	"crypto/tls"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
@@ -24,6 +25,7 @@ const (
 	defaultEvent       = "{{ .ID }}"
 	defaultGroup       = "{{ .Group }}"
 	defaultTimeout     = time.Duration(24 * time.Hour)
+	defaultPostTimeout = time.Duration(5 * time.Second)
 	defaultTokenPrefix = "Bearer"
 )
 
@@ -64,6 +66,7 @@ type testOptions struct {
 	Origin      string   `json:"origin"`
 	Service     []string `json:"service"`
 	Timeout     string   `json:"timeout"`
+	PostTimeout string   `json:"post-timeout"`
 }
 
 func (s *Service) TestOptions() interface{} {
@@ -79,6 +82,7 @@ func (s *Service) TestOptions() interface{} {
 		Origin:      c.Origin,
 		Service:     []string{"testServiceA", "testServiceB"},
 		Timeout:     "24h0m0s",
+		PostTimeout: "10s",
 	}
 }
 
@@ -89,6 +93,7 @@ func (s *Service) Test(options interface{}) error {
 	}
 	c := s.config()
 	timeout, _ := time.ParseDuration(o.Timeout)
+	postTimeout, _ := time.ParseDuration(o.PostTimeout)
 	return s.Alert(
 		c.Token,
 		c.TokenPrefix,
@@ -102,6 +107,7 @@ func (s *Service) Test(options interface{}) error {
 		o.Origin,
 		o.Service,
 		timeout,
+		postTimeout,
 		map[string]string{},
 		models.Result{},
 	)
@@ -138,7 +144,7 @@ func (s *Service) Update(newConfig []interface{}) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func (s *Service) Alert(token, tokenPrefix, resource, event, environment, severity, group, value, message, origin string, service []string, timeout time.Duration, tags map[string]string, data models.Result) error {
+func (s *Service) Alert(token, tokenPrefix, resource, event, environment, severity, group, value, message, origin string, service []string, timeout time.Duration, postTimeout time.Duration, tags map[string]string, data models.Result) error {
 	if resource == "" || event == "" {
 		return errors.New("Resource and Event are required to send an alert")
 	}
@@ -148,6 +154,12 @@ func (s *Service) Alert(token, tokenPrefix, resource, event, environment, severi
 		return err
 	}
 
+	if postTimeout > 0 {
+		ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(req.Context(), postTimeout)
+		defer cancel()
+		req = req.WithContext(ctx)
+	}
+
 	client := s.clientValue.Load().(*http.Client)
 	resp, err := client.Do(req)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -286,6 +298,10 @@ type HandlerConfig struct {
 	// Alerta timeout.
 	// Default: 24h
 	Timeout time.Duration `mapstructure:"timeout"`
+
+	// HTTP Post timeout.
+	// Default 5s
+	PostTimeout time.Duration `mapstructure:"post-timeout"`
 }
 
 type handler struct {
@@ -303,10 +319,11 @@ type handler struct {
 
 func (s *Service) DefaultHandlerConfig() HandlerConfig {
 	return HandlerConfig{
-		Resource: defaultResource,
-		Event:    defaultEvent,
-		Group:    defaultGroup,
-		Timeout:  defaultTimeout,
+		Resource:    defaultResource,
+		Event:       defaultEvent,
+		Group:       defaultGroup,
+		Timeout:     defaultTimeout,
+		PostTimeout: defaultPostTimeout,
 	}
 }
 
@@ -464,6 +481,7 @@ func (h *handler) Handle(event alert.Event) {
 		h.c.Origin,
 		service,
 		h.c.Timeout,
+		h.c.PostTimeout,
 		event.Data.Tags,
 		event.Data.Result,
 	); err != nil {
diff --git a/services/httppost/service.go b/services/httppost/service.go
index 87edf3184..ffb9cfb75 100644
--- a/services/httppost/service.go
+++ b/services/httppost/service.go
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"context"
+
 	"github.com/influxdata/kapacitor/alert"
 	"github.com/influxdata/kapacitor/keyvalue"
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
@@ -237,7 +238,8 @@ type HandlerConfig struct {
 	Endpoint        string            `mapstructure:"endpoint"`
 	Headers         map[string]string `mapstructure:"headers"`
 	CaptureResponse bool              `mapstructure:"capture-response"`
-	Timeout         time.Duration     `mapstructure:"timeout"`
+	Timeout         time.Duration     `mapstructure:"-"`
+	TimeoutRaw      string            `mapstructure:"timeout" json:""`
 }
 
 type handler struct {
@@ -260,7 +262,7 @@ func (s *Service) Handler(c HandlerConfig, ctx ...keyvalue.T) alert.Handler {
 	if !ok {
 		e = NewEndpoint(c.URL, nil, BasicAuth{}, nil, nil)
 	}
-	return &handler{
+	h := handler{
 		s:               s,
 		endpoint:        e,
 		diag:            s.diag.WithContext(ctx...),
@@ -268,6 +270,18 @@ func (s *Service) Handler(c HandlerConfig, ctx ...keyvalue.T) alert.Handler {
 		captureResponse: c.CaptureResponse,
 		timeout:         c.Timeout,
 	}
+	if c.Timeout != 0 {
+		h.timeout = c.Timeout
+	}
+	if c.TimeoutRaw != "" {
+		parsedTimeout, err := time.ParseDuration(c.TimeoutRaw)
+		if err != nil {
+			s.diag.Error("can't parse timeout value, ignored: ", err)
+		} else {
+			h.timeout = parsedTimeout
+		}
+	}
+	return &h
 }
 
 func (h *handler) NewHTTPRequest(body io.Reader) (req *http.Request, err error) {