Moisture is not detected

The Moisture is not detected condition passes when one or more moisture binary sensors are dry. Use it to gate an automation on dry conditions, like only running the dishwasher when the surrounding leak sensor is dry, or only resetting an alert once the area has cleared.

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 this condition 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. From the search box, search for and select Moisture is not detected.
5. Under Targets (see Targets), select one or more leak sensors, devices, an area, a floor, or a label.
6. If you selected more than one target, under Condition passes if, pick Any or All.
7. Under For at least, you can set how long the sensors must stay dry 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, refer to this condition as moisture.is_not_detected. A basic example looks like this:

condition: moisture.is_not_detected
target:
  entity_id: binary_sensor.dishwasher_leak

This passes when the leak sensor next to the dishwasher is currently dry.

Options in YAML

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 moisture entity behind that target.

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

• This condition works with binary sensors that have the moisture device class, such as water leak sensors.
• Sensors that are unavailable or unknown are skipped for Any and fail for All.
• To check for the opposite state, use Moisture is detected.
• For percentage-based moisture readings (such as soil moisture probes), use Moisture level instead.

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: only start the dishwasher when no leak is present

When the daily 22:00 dishwasher start time arrives, only start the dishwasher if the leak sensor next to it has been dry for at least 10 minutes.

• Trigger: Time: 22:00
• Condition: Moisture is not detected
  • Target: Dishwasher leak sensor
  • For at least: 00:10:00
• Action: Turn on switch
  • Target: Dishwasher smart plug

alias: "Start dishwasher only if dry"
triggers:
  - trigger: time
    at: "22:00:00"
conditions:
  - condition: moisture.is_not_detected
    target:
      entity_id: binary_sensor.dishwasher_leak
    options:
      for: "00:10:00"
actions:
  - action: switch.turn_on
    target:
      entity_id: switch.dishwasher

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:

• Moisture is detected: Tests if one or more moisture sensors are detecting moisture.

• Moisture level: Tests if a moisture content value is above a threshold, below a threshold, or in a range of values.