Connection refused on heroku postgresql db via node - node.js

Question

I'm running a postgresql database on heroku, via node. I have my server setup to post to '/submit', which calls a database controller to insert the data into the database. Everything works successfully locally, but when I deploy it to heroku and POST, I get the following error in my heroku logs.
2013-01-21T20:23:43+00:00 heroku[router]: at=info method=POST path=/submit host=[MYDOMAIN].herokuapp.com fwd=[IP] dyno=web.1 queue=0 wait=5ms connect=17ms service=35ms status=200 bytes=2
2013-01-21T20:23:46+00:00 app[web.1]: ^
2013-01-21T20:23:46+00:00 app[web.1]: node.js:201
2013-01-21T20:23:46+00:00 app[web.1]: throw e; // process.nextTick error, or 'error' event on first tick
2013-01-21T20:23:46+00:00 app[web.1]:
2013-01-21T20:23:46+00:00 app[web.1]: at Object.afterConnect [as oncomplete] (net.js:637:18)
2013-01-21T20:23:46+00:00 app[web.1]: Error: connect ECONNREFUSED
2013-01-21T20:23:46+00:00 app[web.1]: at errnoException (net.js:646:11)
2013-01-21T20:23:48+00:00 heroku[web.1]: Process exited with status 1
and a 503 in the application.
Here's the relevant controller code (in coffeescript).
LOCAL_DB = "postgres://localhost:#{DBNAME}"
connect = ->
db = process.env.DATABASE_URL or LOCAL_DB
client = new pg.Client
client.connect()
client
insert = (options) ->
client = connect()
query = client.query "INSERT INTO #{TABLE} VALUES($1, $2, $3, $4);",
[options.uid, options.ls_pref, options.hp_pref, options.date]
query.on "error", onError
query.on "end", -> client.end()
I did promote my database to DATABASE_URL:
$ heroku config | grep DATABASE_URL
> DATABASE_URL: postgres://[URL]
Why is my connection being refused?

Answer 1

It turns out I wasn't passing the database string when creating the client.
# Yes
db = process.env.DATABASE_URL or LOCAL_DB
client = new pg.Client db
client.connect()
# No
db = process.env.DATABASE_URL or LOCAL_DB
client = new pg.Client
client.connect db
The local database was working despite this rather obvious oversight. You've been warned!