Input_number always produces float!

Configuration
1

Hi,
I have this slider control:

  heishamon_pump_flow:
    name: Set Pump Flow
    min: 64
    max: 254
    step: 1
    initial: 130

which I want to send an integer value via mqtt:

  #Sets flow target rpm
  - alias: Set flow 
    trigger:
      platform: state
      entity_id: input_number.heishamon_pump_flow
    action:
      service: mqtt.publish
      data_template:
        topic: panasonic_heat_pump/commands/SetMaxPumpDuty
        retain: false #IMPORTANT! ALWAYS set retain flag false for commands!
        payload_template: >-
          {{ (states('input_number.heishamon_pump_flow') | int) }}

But the problem is, that even with a cast to an int, it is transmitted as a float value (which the target does NOT accept)

image
image826×668 37 KB

How can I really cast the value to float?

It should be 141 instead of 141.0