Sprinklers under glass skylights exposed to the direct sun shall be of the _________ temperature classification.

• A. Intermediated
• B. Low
• C. Medium
• D. High

Answer: (A)

Direct sun through glass skylights raises the heat around the sprinkler head, so you need a temperature rating that won’t trip just from solar gain. In skylight-exposed areas, the intermediate rating is used because it sits higher than the low rating to resist sun warming, but isn’t as high as the high rating, which would make the system slower to activate in a real fire. A low rating would be prone to nuisance discharge from the sun, while a medium or high rating would be unnecessarily conservative or slow to respond. So the intermediate temperature classification is the best match for sprinklers under direct sun skylights.