Water heater is off

The Water heater is off condition passes when a water heater entityAn entity represents a sensor, actor, or function in Home Assistant. Entities are used to monitor physical properties or to control other entities. An entity is usually part of a device or a service. [Learn more] is currently off. Use it to make sure an automation runs only when a specific water heater, or every targeted water heater, is not heating.

When you target more than one water heater, the condition’s Condition passes if option controls how the check combines results. You can require any targeted water heater to be off, or demand that all of them are.

Using this condition from the user interface

If you prefer building automations visually, Home Assistant walks you through this condition step by step. You pick what to check, tweak a few options, and save. No YAML knowledge required.

To use Water heater is off in an automation:

1. Go to Settings > Automations & scenes.
2. Open an existing automation, or select Create automation > Create new automation.
3. In the And if section, select Add condition.
4. Select what you want to check. Under By target (see Targets), pick the area your water heater is in, or select a device, a specific entity, a floor, or a label.
5. From the conditions shown for that target, select Water heater is off.
6. Under Condition passes if (see Behavior), pick Any or All.
7. Under For at least, enter how long the water heater must stay off before the condition passes.
8. Select Save.

Options in the UI

Using this condition in YAML

If you work directly in YAML, or you want to know exactly what Home Assistant does under the hood, this section has the technical reference. It lists the field names you use in YAML, their types, and which ones are required.

In YAML, Water heater is off is referred to as water_heater.is_off. A basic example looks like this:

condition: water_heater.is_off
target:
  entity_id: water_heater.utility_room

This passes when water_heater.utility_room is currently off.

To require every targeted water heater to stay off for 15 minutes:

condition: water_heater.is_off
target:
  label_id: vacation_water_heaters
options:
  behavior: all
  for: "00:15:00"

Options in YAML

YAML sometimes provides additional options for more complex use cases that are not available through the UI.

Targets of the condition

This condition requires a target. The target is the object that Home Assistant will check. You can point the condition at a single entityAn entity represents a sensor, actor, or function in Home Assistant. Entities are used to monitor physical properties or to control other entities. An entity is usually part of a device or a service. [Learn more], a device, an area, a floor, or a label, and Home Assistant will evaluate every matching water_heater entity behind that target.

• Entity: one specific water_heater entity, such as water_heater.living_room.
• Device: every water_heater entity that belongs to a device.
• Area: every water_heater entity in a room or area.
• Floor: every water_heater entity on a floor.
• Label: every water_heater entity that shares a label.

You can also select different target types in one condition. For example, you can add a specific entity and an area as targets in the same condition to check both of them at once.

Behavior with multiple targets

When you target more than one entity (or select an area, floor, or label that contains several), the Condition passes if option controls how the results combine:

• Any (default): the condition passes if at least one of the targeted entities matches. For example, if you check three smoke sensors and only one of them detects smoke, the condition still passes. This is useful for questions like “is there smoke anywhere in the house?”
• All: the condition passes only when every targeted entity matches. For example, if you check the same three smoke sensors, the condition passes only once all three report cleared. This is useful for “is the entire house safe now?” checks, so your automation does not send an all-clear while one room still has a reading.

Good to know

• unavailable and unknown do not count as off for this condition.
• With Any, unavailable and unknown water heaters are skipped. With All, they make the condition fail.
• To check for a transition to off instead of the current state, use Water heater turned off.
• To require a water heater to be on instead, use Water heater is on.

Try it yourself

Ready to test this? Go to Settings > Automations & scenes, open an automation, and add this condition. Trigger the automation with and without the condition met, and watch whether it continues or stops.

More examples

Real scenarios where this condition gates an automation. Copy any example and adapt it to your setup.

Automation: switch to boost mode only when the water heater is off

When a utility-rate sensor reports a low-price period, switch the water heater to Performance mode, but only if it is currently off.

• Trigger: State: Utility rate changes to low
• Condition: Water heater is off
  • Target: Utility room water heater
• Action: Set water heater operation mode

alias: "Use low-rate period for hot water recovery"
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: sensor.utility_rate
    to: "low"
conditions:
  - condition: water_heater.is_off
    target:
      entity_id: water_heater.utility_room
actions:
  - action: water_heater.set_operation_mode
    target:
      entity_id: water_heater.utility_room
    data:
      operation_mode: performance

Automation: notify when all vacation water heaters stay off

Every hour, check whether all targeted vacation water heaters have stayed off for 15 minutes. If they have, send a reminder notification.

• Trigger: Time pattern: Every hour
• Condition: Water heater is off
  • Target: Vacation water heaters
  • Condition passes if: All
  • For at least: 00:15:00
• Action: Send a notification message
  • Target: My Device (notify.my_device)

alias: "Check that vacation water heaters remain off"
triggers:
  - trigger: time_pattern
    hours: "/1"
conditions:
  - condition: water_heater.is_off
    target:
      label_id: vacation_water_heaters
    options:
      behavior: all
      for: "00:15:00"
actions:
  - action: notify.send_message
    target:
      entity_id: notify.my_device
    data:
      message: "All vacation water heaters have stayed off for 15 minutes."

Still stuck?

The Home Assistant community is quick to help: join Discord for real-time chat, post on the community forum with the condition you’re using and what you expected to happen, or share on our subreddit /r/homeassistant.

Related conditions

These conditions work well alongside this one:

• Water heater is on: Tests if one or more water heaters are on.

• Water heater operation mode: Tests if one or more water heaters are set to a specific operation mode.