diff --git a/homeassistant/components/recorder/purge.py b/homeassistant/components/recorder/purge.py
index 81c28bb94d9..d2afb6076e3 100644
--- a/homeassistant/components/recorder/purge.py
+++ b/homeassistant/components/recorder/purge.py
@@ -18,38 +18,44 @@ def purge_old_data(instance, purge_days, repack):
     _LOGGER.debug("Purging events before %s", purge_before)
 
     with session_scope(session=instance.get_session()) as session:
+        delete_states = session.query(States) \
+                            .filter((States.last_updated < purge_before))
+
         # For each entity, the most recent state is protected from deletion
         # s.t. we can properly restore state even if the entity has not been
         # updated in a long time
         protected_states = session.query(func.max(States.state_id)) \
             .group_by(States.entity_id).all()
 
-        protected_state_ids = tuple((state[0] for state in protected_states))
+        protected_state_ids = tuple(state[0] for state in protected_states)
 
-        deleted_rows = session.query(States) \
-                              .filter((States.last_updated < purge_before)) \
-                              .filter(~States.state_id.in_(
-                                  protected_state_ids)) \
-                              .delete(synchronize_session=False)
+        if protected_state_ids:
+            delete_states = delete_states \
+                .filter(~States.state_id.in_(protected_state_ids))
+
+        deleted_rows = delete_states.delete(synchronize_session=False)
         _LOGGER.debug("Deleted %s states", deleted_rows)
 
+        delete_events = session.query(Events) \
+            .filter((Events.time_fired < purge_before))
+
         # We also need to protect the events belonging to the protected states.
         # Otherwise, if the SQL server has "ON DELETE CASCADE" as default, it
         # will delete the protected state when deleting its associated
         # event. Also, we would be producing NULLed foreign keys otherwise.
-        protected_events = session.query(States.event_id) \
-            .filter(States.state_id.in_(protected_state_ids)) \
-            .filter(States.event_id.isnot(None)) \
-            .all()
+        if protected_state_ids:
+            protected_events = session.query(States.event_id) \
+                .filter(States.state_id.in_(protected_state_ids)) \
+                .filter(States.event_id.isnot(None)) \
+                .all()
 
-        protected_event_ids = tuple((state[0] for state in protected_events))
+            protected_event_ids = tuple(state[0] for state in protected_events)
 
-        deleted_rows = session.query(Events) \
-            .filter((Events.time_fired < purge_before)) \
-            .filter(~Events.event_id.in_(
-                protected_event_ids
-            )) \
-            .delete(synchronize_session=False)
+            if protected_event_ids:
+                delete_events = delete_events \
+                    .filter(~Events.event_id.in_(protected_event_ids))
+
+        deleted_rows = delete_events.delete(synchronize_session=False)
         _LOGGER.debug("Deleted %s events", deleted_rows)
 
     # Execute sqlite vacuum command to free up space on disk