diff --git a/src/caosadvancedtools/loadFiles.py b/src/caosadvancedtools/loadFiles.py
index 9ebf8b9f27fbe7d3980af7941de733624f96b17c..94733a326a4180f968e2e9e691b5afca9024f6c0 100755
--- a/src/caosadvancedtools/loadFiles.py
+++ b/src/caosadvancedtools/loadFiles.py
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ import argparse
 
 import caosdb as db
 
+timeout_fallback = 20
 
 def convert_size(size):
     if (size == 0):
@@ -44,7 +45,7 @@ def convert_size(size):
 
 def loadpath(path, include, exclude, prefix, dryrun, forceAllowSymlinks):
 
-    if dryrun is True:
+    if dryrun:
         print("DRYRUN")
         files = db.Container().retrieve(
             unique=False,
@@ -102,9 +103,12 @@ def main(argv=None):
     parser.add_argument('-t', '--timeout', dest="timeout",
                         help="timeout in seconds for the database requests. "
                         "0 means no timeout. [defaults to the global "
-                        "setting: %(default)s]",
+                        "setting, else to {timeout_fallback}s: "
+                        "%(default)s]".format(
+                            timeout_fallback=timeout_fallback),
                         metavar="TIMEOUT",
-                        default=db.get_config().get("Connection", "timeout"))
+                        default=db.get_config().get("Connection", "timeout",
+                                                    fallback=timeout_fallback))
     parser.add_argument(dest="path",
                         help="path to folder with source file(s) "
                         "[default: %(default)s]", metavar="path")