diff --git a/src/verification.ml b/src/verification.ml
index 424877c1dbf34bfbe462036f03da2d2acfce3d4c..872cb3907d661751f05315140569aed8ca76f9d1 100644
--- a/src/verification.ml
+++ b/src/verification.ml
@@ -210,10 +210,11 @@ let create_env ?(debug = false) loadpath =
   let config = Autodetect.autodetection ~debug () in
   let config =
     let main = Whyconf.get_main config in
+    let dft_timelimit = 20 (* 20 seconds *) in
     let dft_memlimit = 4000 (* 4 GB *) in
     let main =
       Whyconf.(
-        set_limits main (timelimit main) dft_memlimit (running_provers_max main))
+        set_limits main dft_timelimit dft_memlimit (running_provers_max main))
     in
     Whyconf.set_main config main
   in