Anyway I also noticed that when the bitcoind went down the email notification wasn't sent till some time later. Only after the bitcoind started and I already redirected my clients to solo. Would it be possible to add a notification via email when the bitcoind goes down? Thanks I am loving the email notifications currently being offered, it comes in handy.
This is not related to notifications. I just stop all pool daemons after crash for at least 15 min (for diagnosing problem).