Electronic – What happens if I connect a transformer in reverse

Think of a single phase transformer feeding an open circuit on the secondary. The AC is a normal AC signal then suddenly the AC signal instantly becomes 0 V (this represents the short on the primary feed). There will be some amount of magnetic flux (aka energy) in the transformer core that will push a current back out of the primary windings into the 0 V AC source.

If the transformer is perfect in all respects (other than it has a magnetizing inductance), the current will flow into the "0 V" indefinitely BUT there are of course resistive losses so this current will be an exponential decay to zero. If there is no leakage inductance on the primary winding, the 0 V (aka short) will ensure that there is nothing seen on the secondary other than the cessation of the AC waveform when it instantly falls to zero.

If there is leakage inductance on the primary (normal of course) then there will be a small kick-back voltage seen on the secondary due to the magnetizing inductance of the primary not being perfectly shorted to 0 V.

With or without a load it won't make a difference - there will be a small kick-back voltage seen on the secondary as the magnetic flux (and current) exponentially decay to zero.

It should also be noted that if the AC falls to zero volts at the very peak of its waveform, the current in the magnetizing inductance of the primary is zero and no effect will be seen. This is because, at that instant in time, the flux in the core will also be zero. If, on the other hand, the AC voltage halts at a zero-cross (and stays at zero), the flux in the primary will be at a maximum and the effect described above will take place. At all other points the effect will be proportionally less.

The Japanese (back when 50/60Hz mains transformers were still viable) would often use a lighter gauge of wire for the 'upper' half of the 230V (or whatever) winding. North American makers, in my experience, not so much.

I don't think bifilar winding would be good because of insulation considerations when they are in series. It's fine when they're in parallel (and sometimes used because of skin effect or just to get a heavier gauge), but I think bad practice to depend on the wire insulation for much breakdown voltage. If you break the input to the transformer with a switch, a lot of voltage will appear across the primary winding, and half of that would be wire-to-wire with a bifilar winding.

You can't connect them in parallel because of the CT, but it wouldn't be a very good idea anyhow- the different number of turns means the transformer would quickly overheat.