diff --git a/src/eccodes_prototypes.h b/src/eccodes_prototypes.h
index 90592dd72..a32aa8749 100644
--- a/src/eccodes_prototypes.h
+++ b/src/eccodes_prototypes.h
@@ -486,6 +486,7 @@ void grib_file_close(const char* filename, int force, int* err);
 void grib_file_close_all(int* err);
 grib_file* grib_get_file(const char* filename, int* err);
 void grib_file_delete(grib_file* file);
+void grib_file_pool_print(const char* title, FILE* out);
 
 /* grib_geography.cc */
 int grib_get_gaussian_latitudes(long trunc, double* lats);
diff --git a/src/grib_filepool.cc b/src/grib_filepool.cc
index a55bb562c..4f98a33e3 100644
--- a/src/grib_filepool.cc
+++ b/src/grib_filepool.cc
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@
  */
 
 #include "grib_api_internal.h"
+#include <cstdio>
+
 #define GRIB_MAX_OPENED_FILES 200
 
 #if GRIB_PTHREADS
@@ -423,10 +425,22 @@ void grib_file_delete(grib_file* file)
     //    }
     //}
 
-    free(file->name);
-    free(file->mode);
-    free(file->buffer);
+    free(file->name); file->name = 0;
+    free(file->mode); file->mode = 0;
+    free(file->buffer); file->buffer = 0;
     grib_context_free(file->context, file);
     /* file = NULL; */
     GRIB_MUTEX_UNLOCK(&mutex1);
 }
+
+void grib_file_pool_print(const char* title, FILE* out)
+{
+    int i = 0;
+    grib_file* file = file_pool.first;
+    printf("%s: size=%zu, num_opened_files=%d\n", title, file_pool.size, file_pool.number_of_opened_files);
+    while (file) {
+        printf("%s:\tfile_pool entry %d = %s\n", title, i++, file->name);
+        file = file->next;
+    }
+    printf("\n");
+}
diff --git a/tests/unit_tests.cc b/tests/unit_tests.cc
index aad854fec..c401b94aa 100644
--- a/tests/unit_tests.cc
+++ b/tests/unit_tests.cc
@@ -855,6 +855,12 @@ static void test_grib_get_binary_scale_fact()
     Assert( result == 0 );
 }
 
+static void test_filepool()
+{
+    printf("Running %s ...\n", __func__);
+    grib_file_pool_print("file_pool contents", stdout);
+}
+
 int main(int argc, char** argv)
 {
     printf("Doing unit tests. ecCodes version = %ld\n", grib_get_api_version());
@@ -924,6 +930,7 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv)
     test_grib2_choose_PDTN();
     test_codes_is_feature_enabled();
     test_codes_get_features();
+    test_filepool();
 
     return 0;
 }