The Butler County Prison might get an early Christmas present this year.

Its new pipes should be installed before Santa Claus arrives.

The prison board voted unanimously to move $30,800 from the inmate commissary fund to the capital renovations fund Tuesday to buy about 250 feet of stainless steel pipe.

John Campbell, director of county facilities and operations, said he believes county workers can have the pipe installed by Dec. 25.

“We will work on it as staffing allows,” he said.

With the upcoming holiday season, he expects some workers will take days off, but doesn’t think that or anything else will cause a delay in the installation process.

“I hope it’s painless,” Campbell said.

The county initially set a threshold of $19,400 to spend on the pipe. However, in May, Campbell received three quotes. All three exceeded $19,400.

The amount was then increased to allow for the purchase of better quality pipe.

“I bought the best pipe I could find,” Campbell said.

He hopes by spending more money on this pipe, it will last longer than the lower quality one, which lasted less than a decade.

The prison opened the building at the South Washington Street location seven years ago in 2009, replacing the former one on Vogely Street that dated back to the 1950s.

The pipe, located in the boiler room of the new building, needs replaced because it is already deteriorating, causing condensation to frequently build up, according to Campbell.

To complete the replacement, Campbell initially thought workers would need to knock down a wall, but since then he has discovered a way around this. They will use a roof hatch.

The new pipe was bought from Hot Water Distributors in Pittsburgh.