diff --git a/app/controllers/admin/runners_controller.rb b/app/controllers/admin/runners_controller.rb
index 7345c91f67df3ba174c11001edf49c434b484297..348641e5ecb5a95ac8ff2ff746fb3b97eaf82251 100644
--- a/app/controllers/admin/runners_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/admin/runners_controller.rb
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ def show
   end
 
   def update
-    if @runner.update_attributes(runner_params)
+    if Ci::UpdateRunnerService.new(@runner).update(runner_params)
       respond_to do |format|
         format.js
         format.html { redirect_to admin_runner_path(@runner) }
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ def destroy
   end
 
   def resume
-    if @runner.update_attributes(active: true)
+    if Ci::UpdateRunnerService.new(@runner).update(active: true)
       redirect_to admin_runners_path, notice: 'Runner was successfully updated.'
     else
       redirect_to admin_runners_path, alert: 'Runner was not updated.'
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ def resume
   end
 
   def pause
-    if @runner.update_attributes(active: false)
+    if Ci::UpdateRunnerService.new(@runner).update(active: false)
       redirect_to admin_runners_path, notice: 'Runner was successfully updated.'
     else
       redirect_to admin_runners_path, alert: 'Runner was not updated.'
diff --git a/app/controllers/projects/runners_controller.rb b/app/controllers/projects/runners_controller.rb
index 53c36635efe1ecd779360bf14ead772aa2556b97..ff75c408beb84b025b413d380576f51198b0c582 100644
--- a/app/controllers/projects/runners_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/projects/runners_controller.rb
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ def edit
   end
 
   def update
-    if @runner.update_attributes(runner_params)
+    if Ci::UpdateRunnerService.new(@runner).update(runner_params)
       redirect_to runner_path(@runner), notice: 'Runner was successfully updated.'
     else
       render 'edit'
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ def destroy
   end
 
   def resume
-    if @runner.update_attributes(active: true)
+    if Ci::UpdateRunnerService.new(@runner).update(active: true)
       redirect_to runner_path(@runner), notice: 'Runner was successfully updated.'
     else
       redirect_to runner_path(@runner), alert: 'Runner was not updated.'
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ def resume
   end
 
   def pause
-    if @runner.update_attributes(active: false)
+    if Ci::UpdateRunnerService.new(@runner).update(active: false)
       redirect_to runner_path(@runner), notice: 'Runner was successfully updated.'
     else
       redirect_to runner_path(@runner), alert: 'Runner was not updated.'
diff --git a/app/models/ci/runner.rb b/app/models/ci/runner.rb
index ed1843ba0053e86a9f0c772005b3a088196b110a..07a086b0acae00b1a48cfdcad69cdf03572bb764 100644
--- a/app/models/ci/runner.rb
+++ b/app/models/ci/runner.rb
@@ -22,8 +22,6 @@ class Runner < ActiveRecord::Base
     scope :online, ->() { where('contacted_at > ?', LAST_CONTACT_TIME) }
     scope :ordered, ->() { order(id: :desc) }
 
-    after_save :tick_runner_queue, if: :form_editable_changed?
-
     scope :owned_or_shared, ->(project_id) do
       joins('LEFT JOIN ci_runner_projects ON ci_runner_projects.runner_id = ci_runners.id')
         .where("ci_runner_projects.gl_project_id = :project_id OR ci_runners.is_shared = true", project_id: project_id)
@@ -40,6 +38,8 @@ class Runner < ActiveRecord::Base
 
     acts_as_taggable
 
+    after_destroy :cleanup_runner_queue
+
     # Searches for runners matching the given query.
     #
     # This method uses ILIKE on PostgreSQL and LIKE on MySQL.
@@ -147,14 +147,14 @@ def is_runner_queue_value_latest?(value)
 
     private
 
-    def runner_queue_key
-      "runner:build_queue:#{self.token}"
+    def cleanup_runner_queue
+      Gitlab::Redis.with do |redis|
+        redis.del(runner_queue_key)
+      end
     end
 
-    def form_editable_changed?
-      FORM_EDITABLE.any? do |editable|
-        public_send("#{editable}_changed?")
-      end
+    def runner_queue_key
+      "runner:build_queue:#{self.token}"
     end
 
     def tag_constraints
diff --git a/app/services/ci/update_runner_service.rb b/app/services/ci/update_runner_service.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..198b29b3a9d05c7520705622b5fbbd5421644550
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/services/ci/update_runner_service.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+module Ci
+  class UpdateRunnerService
+    attr_reader :runner
+
+    def initialize(runner)
+      @runner = runner
+    end
+
+    def update(params)
+      runner.update(params).tap do
+        runner.tick_runner_queue
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/spec/models/ci/runner_spec.rb b/spec/models/ci/runner_spec.rb
index 3f32248e52b0d9357a50cee55c58fcf642e5425c..f8513ac8b1c1ba6d134a670ba40313c4ee95b7aa 100644
--- a/spec/models/ci/runner_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/ci/runner_spec.rb
@@ -290,7 +290,7 @@
       let!(:last_update) { runner.ensure_runner_queue_value }
 
       before do
-        runner.update(description: 'new runner')
+        Ci::UpdateRunnerService.new(runner).update(description: 'new runner')
       end
 
       it 'sets a new last_update value' do
@@ -318,6 +318,25 @@ def expect_value_in_redis
     end
   end
 
+  describe '#destroy' do
+    let(:runner) { create(:ci_runner) }
+
+    context 'when there is a tick in the queue' do
+      let!(:queue_key) { runner.send(:runner_queue_key) }
+
+      before do
+        runner.tick_runner_queue
+        runner.destroy
+      end
+
+      it 'cleans up the queue' do
+        Gitlab::Redis.with do |redis|
+          expect(redis.get(queue_key)).to be_nil
+        end
+      end
+    end
+  end
+
   describe '.assignable_for' do
     let(:runner) { create(:ci_runner) }
     let(:project) { create(:empty_project) }
diff --git a/spec/services/ci/update_runner_service_spec.rb b/spec/services/ci/update_runner_service_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..8429881dd151298733f1fa939f3c8e5969c959ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/services/ci/update_runner_service_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+require 'spec_helper'
+
+describe Ci::UpdateRunnerService, services: true do
+  let(:runner) { create(:ci_runner) }
+
+  describe '#update' do
+    before do
+      allow(runner).to receive(:tick_runner_queue)
+
+      described_class.new(runner).update(description: 'new runner')
+    end
+
+    it 'updates the runner and ticking the queue' do
+      expect(runner.description).to eq('new runner')
+      expect(runner).to have_received(:tick_runner_queue)
+    end
+  end
+end