Okay things are busy for me, just got a chance to look at all this. Okay so The water heater doesn't have any markings on what line attaches where. With my upcoming wedding I don't have a lot of time to work on this thing so I'm still trying to finish up patching the ceiling and back wall currently but this is next on the list. From what I'v researched I am going to patch it currently then if it breaks again replace it. The Sharkbite seems to be my best bet of getting a seal on it so I'll try that for a while.
as to figure out how this heater works I'll have to trace and make a map of the current lines and see if I an't figure out how this was designed. Wish me luck