diff --git a/timmy/conf.py b/timmy/conf.py
index 6107d7d..fabe5c0 100644
--- a/timmy/conf.py
+++ b/timmy/conf.py
@@ -1,8 +1,7 @@
-import yaml
 import logging
 import sys
 from nodefilter import NodeFilter
-
+from tools import load_yaml_file
 
 class Conf(object):
     """Configuration parameters"""
@@ -32,25 +31,8 @@ class Conf(object):
 
     @staticmethod
     def load_conf(filename):
-        try:
-            with open(filename, 'r') as f:
-                conf = yaml.load(f)
-            return Conf(**conf)
-        except IOError as e:
-            logging.error("load_conf: I/O error(%s): %s" %
-                          (e.errno, e.strerror))
-            sys.exit(1)
-        except ValueError:
-            logging.error("load_conf: Could not convert data")
-            sys.exit(1)
-        except yaml.parser.ParserError as e:
-            logging.error("load_conf: Could not parse %s:\n%s" %
-                          (filename, str(e)))
-            sys.exit(1)
-        except:
-            logging.error("load_conf: Unexpected error: %s" %
-                          sys.exc_info()[0])
-            sys.exit(1)
+        conf = load_yaml_file(filename)
+        return Conf(**conf)
 
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
diff --git a/timmy/tools.py b/timmy/tools.py
index c738858..f76ae5b 100644
--- a/timmy/tools.py
+++ b/timmy/tools.py
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import sys
 import threading
 from multiprocessing import Process, Queue, BoundedSemaphore
 import subprocess
+import yaml
 
 
 slowpipe = '''
@@ -137,6 +138,27 @@ def get_dir_structure(rootdir):
     return dir
 
 
+def load_yaml_file(filename):
+    try:
+        with open(filename, 'r') as f:
+            return yaml.load(f)
+    except IOError as e:
+        logging.error("load_conf: I/O error(%s): %s" %
+                      (e.errno, e.strerror))
+        sys.exit(1)
+    except ValueError:
+        logging.error("load_conf: Could not convert data")
+        sys.exit(1)
+    except yaml.parser.ParserError as e:
+        logging.error("load_conf: Could not parse %s:\n%s" %
+                      (filename, str(e)))
+        sys.exit(1)
+    except:
+        logging.error("load_conf: Unexpected error: %s" %
+                      sys.exc_info()[0])
+        sys.exit(1)
+
+
 def mdir(directory):
     if not os.path.exists(directory):
         logging.debug('creating directory %s' % directory)