diff --git a/clustering/consul b/clustering/consul
index 24df908c45c..15a68f068a2 100644
--- a/clustering/consul
+++ b/clustering/consul
@@ -143,6 +143,7 @@ except ImportError, e:
           "see http://python-consul.readthedocs.org/en/latest/#installation'"
     sys.exit(1)
 
+from requests.exceptions import ConnectionError
 
 def register_with_consul(module):
 
@@ -453,11 +454,11 @@ def main():
     )
     try:
         register_with_consul(module)
-    except IOError, e:
-        error = e.read()
-        if not error:
-            error = str(e)
-        module.fail_json(msg=error)
+    except ConnectionError, e:
+        module.fail_json(msg='Could not connect to consul agent at %s:%s, error was %s' % (
+                            module.params.get('host'), module.params.get('port'), str(e)))
+    except Exception, e:
+        module.fail_json(msg=str(e))
 
 # import module snippets
 from ansible.module_utils.basic import *
diff --git a/clustering/consul_acl b/clustering/consul_acl
index fc997400ae9..cd5466c53b1 100644
--- a/clustering/consul_acl
+++ b/clustering/consul_acl
@@ -92,6 +92,7 @@ except ImportError:
           " see https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pyhcl'"
     sys.exit(1)
 
+from requests.exceptions import ConnectionError
 
 def execute(module):
 
@@ -284,11 +285,11 @@ def main():
 
     try:
         execute(module)
-    except IOError, e:
-        error = e.read()
-        if not error:
-            error = str(e)
-        module.fail_json(msg=error)
+    except ConnectionError, e:
+        module.fail_json(msg='Could not connect to consul agent at %s:%s, error was %s' % (
+                            module.params.get('host'), module.params.get('port'), str(e)))
+    except Exception, e:
+        module.fail_json(msg=str(e))
 
 # import module snippets
 from ansible.module_utils.basic import *
diff --git a/clustering/consul_kv b/clustering/consul_kv
index 6a2b77ea7c6..8999a43319f 100644
--- a/clustering/consul_kv
+++ b/clustering/consul_kv
@@ -117,6 +117,7 @@ except ImportError, e:
     see http://python-consul.readthedocs.org/en/latest/#installation'"""
     sys.exit(1)
 
+from requests.exceptions import ConnectionError
 
 def execute(module):
 
@@ -227,11 +228,12 @@ def main():
 
     try:
         execute(module)
-    except IOError, e:
-        error = e.read()
-        if not error:
-            error = str(e)
-        module.fail_json(msg=error)
+    except ConnectionError, e:
+        module.fail_json(msg='Could not connect to consul agent at %s:%s, error was %s' % (
+                            module.params.get('host'), module.params.get('port'), str(e)))
+    except Exception, e:
+        module.fail_json(msg=str(e))
+
 
 # import module snippets
 from ansible.module_utils.basic import *
diff --git a/clustering/consul_session b/clustering/consul_session
index f11c5447e57..00f4cae7344 100644
--- a/clustering/consul_session
+++ b/clustering/consul_session
@@ -80,6 +80,7 @@ except ImportError, e:
             "http://python-consul.readthedocs.org/en/latest/#installation'"
     sys.exit(1)
 
+from requests.errors import ConnectionError
 
 def execute(module):
 
@@ -202,11 +203,11 @@ def main():
 
     try:
         execute(module)
-    except IOError, e:
-        error = e.read()
-        if not error:
-            error = str(e)
-        module.fail_json(msg=error)
+    except ConnectionError, e:
+        module.fail_json(msg='Could not connect to consul agent at %s:%s, error was %s' % (
+                            module.params.get('host'), module.params.get('port'), str(e)))
+    except Exception, e:
+        module.fail_json(msg=str(e))
 
 # import module snippets
 from ansible.module_utils.basic import *