Our house is 2 story & a finished basement . . . central air, a whole house fan, and attic fans in the attic and in the gable above the garage on the south side of the house (where my office is on the 2nd floor). My office is by far the hottest room in the house. The furnace is in the basement on the opposite side of the house, so my office is also the furthest point from it pretty much. It just gets hotter than the rest of the house no matter what.

I have a ceiling fan in the office, which helps, but I also bought a portable AC unit and have it piped out the wall and through the gable to the outside. Works pretty slick if it gets too hot up there. If I was rolling in cash, I'd put in a ventless system to cool that part of the house better and quieter--but it's not so bad that I want to spend the $$ on that.



As far as the whole house fan, it's great at night when things cool down. If it's cool enough, I'll back off the AC and let the fan do its thing. On the hotter nights, it's not as much help . . . but in the spring and fall when it really cools down outside, it's amazing how fast and how much that thing cools the whole house.