I put in a counter when we first purchased TD. If you have a wet bilge it's very informative to see the number of times the pump goes off, sometimes just from sloshing during a sail.

We had a bad seal on the raw water pump that was gushing salt water into the bilge. We were headed directly windward toward Bocas Del Toro under engine from the San Blas with about 150 miles to go. I'd write down the cycles and reset the counter every half hour to track it's deterioration. It would cycle about 35 times every half hour. We had planned on hanging a left and sailing to a small island about 50 miles West where we would swap out the pump if it got worse but I was trying to get to Bocus so I could make the swap in a slip with the air cond. on, much better. It never completely failed so we continued on to our destination.

Without the ability to track the cycles of the pump there would be no way to tell if it was getting worse. It's also a useful tool to track cycles if you leave the boat for a while. Without one you don't have a clue.

A cycle pump is a really good addition to a bilge pump system.