diff --git a/scripts/portal-down.sh b/scripts/portal-down.sh
index b2a9593c..3b1e9a94 100755
--- a/scripts/portal-down.sh
+++ b/scripts/portal-down.sh
@@ -2,6 +2,11 @@
 
 set -e # exit on first error
 
+TIMEOUT=${1:-300} # default timeout is 300s
+if ! [[ "$TIMEOUT" =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]]; then
+    echo "Timeout has to be valid integer" && exit 1
+fi
+
 countdown() {
     local secs=$1
     while [ $secs -gt 0 ]; do
@@ -12,7 +17,7 @@ countdown() {
 }
 
 # stop healh-check so the server is taken our of load balancer
-docker exec health-check cli/disable
+# docker exec health-check cli/disable
 
 # then wait 5 minutes for the load balancer to propagate the dns records
-countdown 300
+countdown $TIMEOUT