fuel pump 99 suburban

Could not start or hear the pump pressurize the line. This happened 2 years ago after running the tank to empty on a hot day. Waited a couple of hours and the pump ran fine and has been for since. Yesterday it did it again and I was resigned to changing the pump, drained the tank from 1/2 to empty and for the hell of it tried to start it and the pump works and the engine runs. Any ideas? Thank you
Pat

My truck did the same thing where it wouldn't start and I couldn't hear the pump run several times. Finally it failed totally while I was on a trip.
After the replacement, I took the old one apart to check it out, and found the armature of the motor section was stuck and looked like it melted.
I only run it down to 1/4 now to keep gas in the tank so the pump won't run hot.
I've seen thoughts both ways on the pump needing to be submerged or not, Mine started failing in hot weather after a long hill. I shut down and it failed to start for about 15 minutes.
Bob B