diff --git a/Simple.HttpClientFactory.Tests/ExceptionTranslatorTests.cs b/Simple.HttpClientFactory.Tests/ExceptionTranslatorTests.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..00d3e6e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Simple.HttpClientFactory.Tests/ExceptionTranslatorTests.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,110 @@
+using System;
+using System.Collections.Generic;
+using System.Linq;
+using System.Net;
+using System.Net.Http;
+using System.Text;
+using System.Threading.Tasks;
+using Polly;
+using Polly.Timeout;
+using WireMock.RequestBuilders;
+using WireMock.ResponseBuilders;
+using WireMock.Server;
+using Xunit;
+
+namespace Simple.HttpClientFactory.Tests
+{
+    public class ExceptionTranslatorTests
+    {
+        private readonly WireMockServer _server;
+        private readonly List<string> _visitedMiddleware = new List<string>();
+
+        public ExceptionTranslatorTests()
+        {
+            _server = WireMockServer.Start();
+            _server.Given(Request.Create().WithPath("/hello/world").UsingAnyMethod())
+                .RespondWith(
+                    Response.Create()
+                        .WithStatusCode(200)
+                        .WithHeader("Content-Type", "text/plain")
+                        .WithBody("Hello world!"));       
+            
+            _server
+                .Given(Request.Create()
+                    .WithPath("/timeout")
+                    .UsingGet())
+                .RespondWith(Response.Create()
+                    .WithStatusCode(408));
+        }
+
+        public class TestException : Exception
+        {
+            public TestException(string message) : base(message)
+            {
+            }
+        }
+
+        [Fact]
+        public async Task Exception_translator_can_translate_exception_types()
+        {
+            var clientWithRetry = HttpClientFactory.Create()
+                .WithMessageExceptionHandler(ex => true, ex => new TestException(ex.Message))
+                .WithPolicy(
+                    Policy<HttpResponseMessage>
+                        .Handle<HttpRequestException>()
+                        .OrResult(result => (int)result.StatusCode >= 500 || result.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.RequestTimeout)
+                        .WaitAndRetryAsync(3, retryAttempt => TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1)))
+                .WithPolicy(Policy.TimeoutAsync<HttpResponseMessage>(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(4), TimeoutStrategy.Optimistic))
+                .Build();
+
+            await Assert.ThrowsAsync<TestException>(() => clientWithRetry.GetAsync(_server.Urls[0] + "/timeout"));
+            Assert.Equal(4, _server.LogEntries.Count());
+            
+        }
+
+
+        [Fact]
+        public async Task Exception_translator_should_not_change_unhandled_exceptions()
+        {
+            var clientWithRetry = HttpClientFactory.Create()
+                .WithMessageExceptionHandler(ex => true, ex => ex)
+                .WithPolicy(
+                    Policy<HttpResponseMessage>
+                        .Handle<HttpRequestException>()
+                        .OrResult(result => (int)result.StatusCode >= 500 || result.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.RequestTimeout)
+                        .WaitAndRetryAsync(3, retryAttempt => TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1)))
+                .WithPolicy(Policy.TimeoutAsync<HttpResponseMessage>(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(4), TimeoutStrategy.Optimistic))
+                .Build();
+
+            await Assert.ThrowsAsync<HttpRequestException>(() => clientWithRetry.GetAsync(_server.Urls[0] + "/timeout"));
+            Assert.Equal(4, _server.LogEntries.Count());
+            
+        }
+
+        [Fact]
+        public async Task Exception_translator_without_errors_should_not_affect_anything()
+        {
+            var trafficRecorderMessageHandler = new TrafficRecorderMessageHandler(_visitedMiddleware);
+            var eventMessageHandler = new EventMessageHandler(_visitedMiddleware);
+
+            var client = HttpClientFactory.Create()
+                .WithMessageExceptionHandler(ex => true, ex => ex)
+                .WithMessageHandler(eventMessageHandler)
+                .WithMessageHandler(trafficRecorderMessageHandler)
+                .Build();
+
+            var raisedEvent = await Assert.RaisesAsync<EventMessageHandler.RequestEventArgs>(
+                h => eventMessageHandler.Request += h,
+                h => eventMessageHandler.Request -= h,
+                () => client.GetAsync(_server.Urls[0] + "/hello/world"));
+
+            Assert.True(raisedEvent.Arguments.Request.Headers.Contains("foobar"));
+            Assert.Equal("foobar",raisedEvent.Arguments.Request.Headers.GetValues("foobar").FirstOrDefault());
+            Assert.Single(trafficRecorderMessageHandler.Traffic);
+
+            Assert.Equal(HttpStatusCode.OK, trafficRecorderMessageHandler.Traffic[0].Item2.StatusCode);
+            Assert.Equal(new [] { nameof(TrafficRecorderMessageHandler), nameof(EventMessageHandler) }, _visitedMiddleware);
+        }
+
+    }
+}
diff --git a/Simple.HttpClientFactory.Tests/MiddlewareDelegateTests.cs b/Simple.HttpClientFactory.Tests/MiddlewareDelegateTests.cs
index 1469955..c5682eb 100644
--- a/Simple.HttpClientFactory.Tests/MiddlewareDelegateTests.cs
+++ b/Simple.HttpClientFactory.Tests/MiddlewareDelegateTests.cs
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 using System.Collections.Generic;
 using System.Linq;
 using System.Net;
+using System.Net.Http;
 using System.Threading.Tasks;
 using WireMock.RequestBuilders;
 using WireMock.ResponseBuilders;
@@ -26,6 +27,7 @@ public MiddlewareDelegateTests()
                           .WithBody("Hello world!"));         
         }
 
+
         [Fact]
         public async Task Single_middleware_handler_should_work()
         {
diff --git a/Simple.HttpClientFactory/HttpClientBuilder.cs b/Simple.HttpClientFactory/HttpClientBuilder.cs
index 45de2e2..5aa0bd8 100644
--- a/Simple.HttpClientFactory/HttpClientBuilder.cs
+++ b/Simple.HttpClientFactory/HttpClientBuilder.cs
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ public IHttpClientBuilder WithTimeout(in TimeSpan timeout)
         public IHttpClientBuilder WithMessageExceptionHandler(
                 Func<HttpRequestException, bool> exceptionHandlingPredicate,
                 Func<HttpRequestException, Exception> exceptionHandler) =>
-            WithMessageHandler(new ExceptionTranslatorRequestMiddleware(exceptionHandlingPredicate, exceptionHandler, null));
+            WithMessageHandler(new ExceptionTranslatorRequestMiddleware(exceptionHandlingPredicate, exceptionHandler));
 
         /// <exception cref="T:System.ArgumentNullException"><paramref name="handler"/> is <see langword="null"/></exception>
         public IHttpClientBuilder WithMessageHandler(DelegatingHandler handler)
diff --git a/Simple.HttpClientFactory/MessageHandlers/ExceptionTranslatorRequestMiddleware.cs b/Simple.HttpClientFactory/MessageHandlers/ExceptionTranslatorRequestMiddleware.cs
index 0907a2e..4182da0 100644
--- a/Simple.HttpClientFactory/MessageHandlers/ExceptionTranslatorRequestMiddleware.cs
+++ b/Simple.HttpClientFactory/MessageHandlers/ExceptionTranslatorRequestMiddleware.cs
@@ -13,6 +13,15 @@ public class ExceptionTranslatorRequestMiddleware : DelegatingHandler
         public event EventHandler<HttpRequestException> RequestException;
         public event EventHandler<Exception> TransformedRequestException;
 
+        public ExceptionTranslatorRequestMiddleware(
+            Func<HttpRequestException, bool> exceptionHandlingPredicate,
+            Func<HttpRequestException, Exception> exceptionHandler) 
+        {
+            _exceptionHandlingPredicate = exceptionHandlingPredicate ?? throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(exceptionHandlingPredicate));
+            _exceptionHandler = exceptionHandler ?? throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(exceptionHandler));
+        }
+
+
         public ExceptionTranslatorRequestMiddleware(
             Func<HttpRequestException, bool> exceptionHandlingPredicate,
             Func<HttpRequestException, Exception> exceptionHandler, DelegatingHandler handler)  : base(handler)
diff --git a/Simple.HttpClientFactory/MessageHandlers/PollyHttpMessageHandler.cs b/Simple.HttpClientFactory/MessageHandlers/PollyHttpMessageHandler.cs
index 15a0c9d..0ab93c6 100644
--- a/Simple.HttpClientFactory/MessageHandlers/PollyHttpMessageHandler.cs
+++ b/Simple.HttpClientFactory/MessageHandlers/PollyHttpMessageHandler.cs
@@ -45,22 +45,29 @@ private Task<HttpResponseMessage> SendAsyncInternal(HttpRequestMessage request,
             var cleanUpContext = false;
             var context = GetOrCreatePolicyExecutionContext(request, ref cleanUpContext);
 
-            return _policy.ExecuteAsync(
-                async (c, ct) => await base.SendAsync(request, cancellationToken), context, cancellationToken)
-                .ContinueWith(t =>
-                {
-                    if(cleanUpContext)
-                        request.SetPolicyExecutionContext(null);
-                    return t.Result;
-                }, cancellationToken);
+            //do not await for the task so the async state machine won't grow big
+            var responseTask = 
+                _policy.ExecuteAsync(
+                    async (c, ct) => 
+                            await base.SendAsync(request, cancellationToken), context, cancellationToken)
+                       .ContinueWith(t =>
+                       {
+                           if(cleanUpContext)
+                               request.SetPolicyExecutionContext(null);
+                           return t.Result;
+                       }, cancellationToken);
+
+            responseTask.ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+            return responseTask;
 
-            Context GetOrCreatePolicyExecutionContext(HttpRequestMessage httpRequestMessage, ref bool b)
+            Context GetOrCreatePolicyExecutionContext(HttpRequestMessage httpRequestMessage, ref bool shouldCleanupContext)
             {
                 if (!httpRequestMessage.TryGetPolicyExecutionContext(out var fetchedContext))
                 {
                     fetchedContext = new Context();
                     httpRequestMessage.SetPolicyExecutionContext(fetchedContext);
-                    b = true;
+                    shouldCleanupContext = true;
                 }
 
                 return fetchedContext;