diff --git a/homeassistant/components/graphite.py b/homeassistant/components/graphite.py
index a84d4bf8847..0b45714074a 100644
--- a/homeassistant/components/graphite.py
+++ b/homeassistant/components/graphite.py
@@ -98,6 +98,8 @@ class GraphiteFeeder(threading.Thread):
         _LOGGER.debug('Sending to graphite: %s', lines)
         try:
             self._send_to_graphite('\n'.join(lines))
+        except socket.gaierror:
+            _LOGGER.error('Unable to connect to host %s', self._host)
         except socket.error:
             _LOGGER.exception('Failed to send data to graphite')
 
diff --git a/tests/components/test_graphite.py b/tests/components/test_graphite.py
index 34ad93a86c4..746e72f04c6 100644
--- a/tests/components/test_graphite.py
+++ b/tests/components/test_graphite.py
@@ -132,6 +132,16 @@ class TestGraphite(unittest.TestCase):
             actual = mock_send.call_args_list[0][0][0].split('\n')
             self.assertEqual(sorted(expected), sorted(actual))
 
+    @mock.patch('time.time')
+    def test_send_to_graphite_errors(self, mock_time):
+        mock_time.return_value = 12345
+        state = ha.State('domain.entity', STATE_ON, {'foo': 1.0})
+        with mock.patch.object(self.gf, '_send_to_graphite') as mock_send:
+            mock_send.side_effect = socket.error
+            self.gf._report_attributes('entity', state)
+            mock_send.side_effect = socket.gaierror
+            self.gf._report_attributes('entity', state)
+
     @mock.patch('socket.socket')
     def test_send_to_graphite(self, mock_socket):
         self.gf._send_to_graphite('foo')