Yah, I put in a Whole House Fan eons ago. They rock.
I built a Frame to support it, and set it up in the Attic Hatch Access seasonally. So, it was up in the Hallway Ceiling. You can put some macho Screen or Grid in this Homemade Frame if the whirling Blades above your Head is too weird. I plugged it into an Attic Light Outlet, and put a Control down on the Hallway Wall where I could adjust to one of several speeds it ran at.
Open a Window to determine where cool Air is drawn in from. A shady side of the House is best. This scheme also exhausts the Attic, and that's huge. It drives away all the hot Air penetrating down through the House Ceiling. Even with decent Insulation. A Mechanical Timer Control is nice because then it shuts off in the night after 'x' hours of running. Otherwise, you can wake up freezing. They do that good a job.
Without a Window open, such a Fan will 'suck' out any Pilot Lights in the Water Heater, etc..