Boiling water without burning it

Your pan is waaaay too hot. Turn down the heat. Heat the pan, then add the oil/butter and heat the oil. (Hot pan + cold oil = food won't stick.) You also really don't need that much oil/butter for pancakes if you're cooking in a non-stick pan, if you need any at all. Pancakes aren't really a fried food as much as cooktop-baked. Too much fat in the pan will cause the smoky situation as well as making sure that the pancakes cook too quickly and end up either dense and chewy or overly browned while still kind of raw in the middle.