diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 26a17850..5a1e6538 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ packages = [
     {include = "**/*.py", from = "src"},
 ]
 readme = "README.md"
-version = "0.14.0"
+version = "0.14.1"
 
 [tool.poetry.dependencies]
 # For certifi, use ">=" instead of "^" since it upgrades its "major version" every year, not really following semver
diff --git a/src/groundlight/client.py b/src/groundlight/client.py
index a6fdc6b7..51d96945 100644
--- a/src/groundlight/client.py
+++ b/src/groundlight/client.py
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
 # Set urllib3 request timeout to something modern and fast.
 # The system defaults can be stupidly long
 # It used to take >8 min to timeout to a bad IP address
-DEFAULT_REQUEST_TIMEOUT = 5
+DEFAULT_REQUEST_TIMEOUT = 10  # seconds
 
 
 class GroundlightClientError(Exception):
@@ -427,14 +427,15 @@ def submit_image_query(  # noqa: PLR0913 # pylint: disable=too-many-arguments, t
 
         image_bytesio: ByteStreamWrapper = parse_supported_image_types(image)
 
-        params = {"detector_id": detector_id, "body": image_bytesio}
+        params = {"detector_id": detector_id, "body": image_bytesio, "_request_timeout": DEFAULT_REQUEST_TIMEOUT}
+
         if patience_time is not None:
             params["patience_time"] = patience_time
 
         if human_review is not None:
             params["human_review"] = human_review
 
-        if inspection_id is not None:
+        if inspection_id:  # consider an empty string to mean there is no inspection
             params["inspection_id"] = inspection_id
 
         if want_async is True:
diff --git a/test/integration/test_groundlight.py b/test/integration/test_groundlight.py
index 68fa43a0..2f7dd0ed 100644
--- a/test/integration/test_groundlight.py
+++ b/test/integration/test_groundlight.py
@@ -796,3 +796,15 @@ def test_submit_image_query_with_inspection_id_metadata_and_want_async(gl: Groun
 
     assert iq.metadata == metadata
     assert iq.result.label == Label.YES
+
+
+def test_submit_image_query_with_empty_inspection_id(gl: Groundlight, detector: Detector, image: str):
+    """The URCap submits the inspection_id as an empty string when there is no active inspection.
+    This test ensures that this behavior is allowed and does not raise an exception.
+    """
+    gl.submit_image_query(
+        detector=detector.id,
+        image=image,
+        human_review="NEVER",
+        inspection_id="",
+    )