diff --git a/homeassistant/components/recorder/__init__.py b/homeassistant/components/recorder/__init__.py
index 8e6a251f660..3736ecaaf29 100644
--- a/homeassistant/components/recorder/__init__.py
+++ b/homeassistant/components/recorder/__init__.py
@@ -58,8 +58,13 @@ DEFAULT_DB_FILE = "home-assistant_v2.db"
 DEFAULT_DB_INTEGRITY_CHECK = True
 DEFAULT_DB_MAX_RETRIES = 10
 DEFAULT_DB_RETRY_WAIT = 3
+DEFAULT_COMMIT_INTERVAL = 1
 KEEPALIVE_TIME = 30
 
+# Controls how often we clean up
+# States and Events objects
+EXPIRE_AFTER_COMMITS = 120
+
 CONF_AUTO_PURGE = "auto_purge"
 CONF_DB_URL = "db_url"
 CONF_DB_MAX_RETRIES = "db_max_retries"
@@ -91,9 +96,9 @@ CONFIG_SCHEMA = vol.Schema(
                         vol.Coerce(int), vol.Range(min=0)
                     ),
                     vol.Optional(CONF_DB_URL): cv.string,
-                    vol.Optional(CONF_COMMIT_INTERVAL, default=1): vol.All(
-                        vol.Coerce(int), vol.Range(min=0)
-                    ),
+                    vol.Optional(
+                        CONF_COMMIT_INTERVAL, default=DEFAULT_COMMIT_INTERVAL
+                    ): vol.All(vol.Coerce(int), vol.Range(min=0)),
                     vol.Optional(
                         CONF_DB_MAX_RETRIES, default=DEFAULT_DB_MAX_RETRIES
                     ): cv.positive_int,
@@ -238,6 +243,7 @@ class Recorder(threading.Thread):
         self.exclude_t = exclude_t
 
         self._timechanges_seen = 0
+        self._commits_without_expire = 0
         self._keepalive_count = 0
         self._old_states = {}
         self._pending_expunge = []
@@ -345,6 +351,7 @@ class Recorder(threading.Thread):
             )
 
         self.event_session = self.get_session()
+        self.event_session.expire_on_commit = False
         # Use a session for the event read loop
         # with a commit every time the event time
         # has changed. This reduces the disk io.
@@ -485,24 +492,35 @@ class Recorder(threading.Thread):
 
         try:
             self.event_session = self.get_session()
+            self.event_session.expire_on_commit = False
         except Exception as err:  # pylint: disable=broad-except
             # Must catch the exception to prevent the loop from collapsing
             _LOGGER.exception("Error while creating new event session: %s", err)
 
     def _commit_event_session(self):
+        self._commits_without_expire += 1
+
         try:
-            self.event_session.flush()
-            for dbstate in self._pending_expunge:
-                # Expunge the state so its not expired
-                # until we use it later for dbstate.old_state
-                self.event_session.expunge(dbstate)
-            self._pending_expunge = []
+            if self._pending_expunge:
+                self.event_session.flush()
+                for dbstate in self._pending_expunge:
+                    # Expunge the state so its not expired
+                    # until we use it later for dbstate.old_state
+                    self.event_session.expunge(dbstate)
+                self._pending_expunge = []
             self.event_session.commit()
         except Exception as err:
             _LOGGER.error("Error executing query: %s", err)
             self.event_session.rollback()
             raise
 
+        # Expire is an expensive operation (frequently more expensive
+        # than the flush and commit itself) so we only
+        # do it after EXPIRE_AFTER_COMMITS commits
+        if self._commits_without_expire == EXPIRE_AFTER_COMMITS:
+            self._commits_without_expire = 0
+            self.event_session.expire_all()
+
     @callback
     def event_listener(self, event):
         """Listen for new events and put them in the process queue."""
diff --git a/tests/components/recorder/common.py b/tests/components/recorder/common.py
index 4c25771398c..1d0e6dbbfa0 100644
--- a/tests/components/recorder/common.py
+++ b/tests/components/recorder/common.py
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 """Common test utils for working with recorder."""
 
+from datetime import timedelta
+
 from homeassistant.components import recorder
 from homeassistant.util import dt as dt_util
 
 from tests.common import fire_time_changed
 
-DB_COMMIT_INTERVAL = 50
-
 
 def wait_recording_done(hass):
     """Block till recording is done."""
@@ -18,6 +18,6 @@ def wait_recording_done(hass):
 
 def trigger_db_commit(hass):
     """Force the recorder to commit."""
-    for _ in range(DB_COMMIT_INTERVAL):
+    for _ in range(recorder.DEFAULT_COMMIT_INTERVAL):
         # We only commit on time change
-        fire_time_changed(hass, dt_util.utcnow())
+        fire_time_changed(hass, dt_util.utcnow() + timedelta(seconds=1))