If ran dry and attempt to start for hours on end will likely shorten it's life by a lot. I agree that it's not great to run low or dry. I've run everything I own pretty low on or completely empty at one point. Oddly enough the only fuel pumps I've replaced were in atv's and utv's and I'm pretty sure it was cause they took on too much water and dirt from the vent line being ran too low while playing submarine.