diff --git a/homeassistant/components/recorder.py b/homeassistant/components/recorder.py
index 90a4b00cc87..98077a26aae 100644
--- a/homeassistant/components/recorder.py
+++ b/homeassistant/components/recorder.py
@@ -285,7 +285,8 @@ class Recorder(threading.Thread):
                 else:
                     return cur.fetchall()
 
-        except sqlite3.IntegrityError:
+        except (sqlite3.IntegrityError, sqlite3.OperationalError,
+                sqlite3.ProgrammingError):
             _LOGGER.exception(
                 "Error querying the database using: %s", sql_query)
             return []
@@ -329,7 +330,7 @@ class Recorder(threading.Thread):
             migration_id = 0
 
         if migration_id < 1:
-            self.query("""
+            cur.execute("""
                 CREATE TABLE recorder_runs (
                     run_id integer primary key,
                     start integer,
@@ -338,7 +339,7 @@ class Recorder(threading.Thread):
                     created integer)
             """)
 
-            self.query("""
+            cur.execute("""
                 CREATE TABLE events (
                     event_id integer primary key,
                     event_type text,
@@ -346,10 +347,10 @@ class Recorder(threading.Thread):
                     origin text,
                     created integer)
             """)
-            self.query(
+            cur.execute(
                 'CREATE INDEX events__event_type ON events(event_type)')
 
-            self.query("""
+            cur.execute("""
                 CREATE TABLE states (
                     state_id integer primary key,
                     entity_id text,
@@ -359,51 +360,51 @@ class Recorder(threading.Thread):
                     last_updated integer,
                     created integer)
             """)
-            self.query('CREATE INDEX states__entity_id ON states(entity_id)')
+            cur.execute('CREATE INDEX states__entity_id ON states(entity_id)')
 
             save_migration(1)
 
         if migration_id < 2:
-            self.query("""
+            cur.execute("""
                 ALTER TABLE events
                 ADD COLUMN time_fired integer
             """)
 
-            self.query('UPDATE events SET time_fired=created')
+            cur.execute('UPDATE events SET time_fired=created')
 
             save_migration(2)
 
         if migration_id < 3:
             utc_offset = self.utc_offset
 
-            self.query("""
+            cur.execute("""
                 ALTER TABLE recorder_runs
                 ADD COLUMN utc_offset integer
             """)
 
-            self.query("""
+            cur.execute("""
                 ALTER TABLE events
                 ADD COLUMN utc_offset integer
             """)
 
-            self.query("""
+            cur.execute("""
                 ALTER TABLE states
                 ADD COLUMN utc_offset integer
             """)
 
-            self.query("UPDATE recorder_runs SET utc_offset=?", [utc_offset])
-            self.query("UPDATE events SET utc_offset=?", [utc_offset])
-            self.query("UPDATE states SET utc_offset=?", [utc_offset])
+            cur.execute("UPDATE recorder_runs SET utc_offset=?", [utc_offset])
+            cur.execute("UPDATE events SET utc_offset=?", [utc_offset])
+            cur.execute("UPDATE states SET utc_offset=?", [utc_offset])
 
             save_migration(3)
 
         if migration_id < 4:
             # We had a bug where we did not save utc offset for recorder runs
-            self.query(
+            cur.execute(
                 """UPDATE recorder_runs SET utc_offset=?
                    WHERE utc_offset IS NULL""", [self.utc_offset])
 
-            self.query("""
+            cur.execute("""
                 ALTER TABLE states
                 ADD COLUMN event_id integer
             """)
@@ -412,25 +413,33 @@ class Recorder(threading.Thread):
 
         if migration_id < 5:
             # Add domain so that thermostat graphs look right
-            self.query("""
-                ALTER TABLE states
-                ADD COLUMN domain text
-            """)
+            try:
+                cur.execute("""
+                    ALTER TABLE states
+                    ADD COLUMN domain text
+                """)
+            except sqlite3.OperationalError:
+                # We had a bug in this migration for a while on dev
+                # Without this, dev-users will have to throw away their db
+                pass
+
+            # TravisCI has Python compiled against an old version of SQLite3
+            # which misses the instr method.
+            self.conn.create_function(
+                "instr", 2,
+                lambda string, substring: string.find(substring) + 1)
 
             # populate domain with defaults
-            rows = self.query("select distinct entity_id from states")
-            for row in rows:
-                entity_id = row[0]
-                domain = entity_id.split(".")[0]
-                self.query(
-                    "UPDATE states set domain=? where entity_id=?",
-                    domain, entity_id)
+            cur.execute("""
+                UPDATE states
+                set domain=substr(entity_id, 0, instr(entity_id, '.'))
+            """)
 
             # add indexes we are going to use a lot on selects
-            self.query("""
+            cur.execute("""
                 CREATE INDEX states__state_changes ON
                 states (last_changed, last_updated, entity_id)""")
-            self.query("""
+            cur.execute("""
                 CREATE INDEX states__significant_changes ON
                 states (domain, last_updated, entity_id)""")
             save_migration(5)